Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Corrupt councillors face the chop

Corrupt councillors face the chop
By: TZG-TSM
Posted: Sunday, October 3, 2010 2:59 am

THE Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development has embarked on a sustained exercise to cleanse local authorities of corruption and abuse of office. At least 10 councillors have been fired so far for corruption and abuse of office.

Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo confirmed to the Sunday Mail newspaper that Government had instituted investigations in all councils that stood accused of corruption and abuse of office.

The minister will appoint a new batch of eight special councillors in Bulawayo.

He castigated councillors in Bulawayo for acting in concert to frustrate the appointment of more professional people as councillors with no voting powers.

The eight are to be appointed to give the elected councillors some experience and guidance in local governance.

Minister Chombo said he was going to choose the eight from a pool of experienced people.

Turning to corruption and abuse of office by councillors and council officials, he said Government was wielding an axe on all corrupt officials as it moves to restore sanity in local authorities.

“Government will not stand aloof while councils go on a corruption rampage. We will do everything in our power to stop all the corruption and abuse of office by the local authorities and promote service delivery,” he said.

“Government will never at any given time allow service delivery to suffer at the expense of the rot that councillors and council officials are entangled in.

"The ministry will revoke all its powers to deal with such elements as we try to get rid of all the bad apples from among our local authorities.

“The corruption and abuse of office is, in most cases, driven by ignorance and arrogance on the part of councillors and some of them have even admitted to that.

"Our investigations are at different stages and we are firing those who deserve to be fired after exhausting our probe.’’

He said his team of investigators would descend on Beitbridge on Tuesday to probe the allegations of corruption and abuse of office after reports that councillors were unashamedly busy parcelling out stands to their relatives on tribal grounds while there seems to be no hint of accountability in the handling of council funds.

In Victoria Falls, the minister said investigations were being held by the permanent secretary’s office and were ongoing after which a course of action would be determined by the outcome, while in Gweru the ministry was carrying out investigations on allegations of corruption and abuse of office that led to the suspension of the Chamber Secretary, Mr Richard Masinire.

He said the ministry had finalised investigations into the Chitungwiza corruption issue that led to the sacking of some of the councillors after they were found on the wrong side of stipulations of the Urban Councils Act while investigations of abuse of council funds were in progress in Chinhoyi.

Minister Chombo added that his office had fired five councillors in Rusape for corruption and had also sacked the illegitimate deputy mayor for Mutare after he was involved in an accident with the mayor’s S-Class that he had taken and went on a joyride.
The car was a complete write-off.

He said the ministry was pursuing councils on the effective implementation of revenue utilisation where councils were ordered to comply with the directive that 70 percent of the revenue should be channelled towards service delivery while 30 percent was to be used for pensions, allowances and wages.

Minister Chombo said it was disturbing that most of the councils were doing the exact opposite as 75 percent of their total revenue went to salaries, allowances and pensions while leaving a paltry 25 percent to service delivery.

“As a result of councils not complying with the Government directive, some chief executive officers were paid US$18 000 per month while council was also paying for a housemaid and a gardener, among other benefits,” he said.

“We are saying it is obscene as that amount is shockingly incomparable regionally. Such salaries, we suggest, should be cut by more than half depending on the capacity of the local authority to pay.’’

He added that the ministry gave a moratorium that all local authorities should not hire as that would further inflate their wage bill and compromise service delivery.

Minister Chombo rebuffed sentiments by Harare Mayor Mr Muchadeyi Masunda who openly declared that he would not heed Government orders to reduce the salary bill, saying he has a tendency of wanting to play the hero and later regret his actions.

“Masunda has a tendency of saying what he wants and regret it later. He is fond of playing the hero.

"The percentage that should be used for salaries, wages and pensions is actually 28 percent, but we have relaxed the 2 percent; we gave them that as a leeway, but they have and still are abusing that,’’ he said.

Labels: CORRUPTION, COUNCILS

posted by MrK @ 1:57 PM