Maravi

(LUSAKATIMES) President Sata moves Chirundu and Itezhi Tezhi districts from Southern Province, UPND reacts

President Sata moves Chirundu and Itezhi Tezhi districts from Southern Province, UPND reacts
TIME PUBLISHED - Monday, February 6, 2012, 1:49 pm

President Michael Sata has with immediate re-aligned two districts in Southern Province in a bid to improve service delivery and public administration. In a memorandum to the Acting Secretary to the Cabinet Mr. Evans Chibiliti, President Sata directed that a Government Gazette Notice be issued to move the recently created Chirundu District from Southern Province to Lusaka and Itezhi Tezhi District to Central Province.

The President consequently directed that the Surveyor-General moves in quickly to align the boundaries of the two districts on the the new provinces to which they have been re-located. The re-alignment is part of the President’s robust programme to give practical expression to the decentralisation programme and eventual devolution of power to districts.

“In line with our Government policy guided by the Patriotic Front Manifesto, we consider local government as a central feature of the party’s broader aspiration of a well devolved power structure where decision-making processes are as close as possible to the people,”the President said.

The President takes a view that the Decentralisation Policy will only show results once practical steps are taken to properly position both geographical and administrative systems.

“It is a fact that a district such as Itezhi Tezhi is difficult to administer and pose huge logistical problems to be serviced because it is poorly located from the central adminstration point in Southern Province,”President Sata said.

“For instance, to efficiently access Itezhi Tezhi, people have to pass through Lusaka and Central provinces. It is for this reason that this Government sees an urgent need to discontinue this sad scenario which has denied our people the much needed development for many years now.”

Meanwhile, President Sata has appointed Mr. Evans Chibiliti as Secretary to the Cabinet subject to Parliament’s approval. And the Head of State has promoted Youth and Sports permanent secretary Mr. Teddy Mulonga as the new Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet in-charge of Administration.

And the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) has accused President Michael Sata of attempting to redraw the map of the country in an effort to gain political advantage.

UPND Chairman for elections Ackson Sejani says there is no way President Sata can decide to move Chirundu from Southern Province to Lusaka province without consultation from necessary stakeholders.

Mr. Sejani says the PF government should be careful with their maneuvers stating that if not stopped, they the potential bring about strife in the country.

He told a media briefing in Lusaka this morning that President Sata is only making such decisions to reward chiefs that supported him during elections with paramount Chief positions.

Mr. Sejani says the UPND will use every mean to ensure that the shifting of Chirundu to southern province is not done.

And Siavonga Member of Parliament Kennedy Hamudulu says the people of southern province will not accept any changes in the province.

Mr. Hamudulu says if the government saw it fit to make changes, it would have followed the right procedure of consultation instead of using the back door.

The Patriotic Front (PF) government is alleged to be in the process of moving Chirundu from being part of Southern province to Lusaka province.

QFM

Labels: DECENTRALIZATION, DISTRICTS, EVANS CHIBILITI, LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MICHAEL SATA, PF

posted by MrK @ 3:14 AM