By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Fund Councils not CDF
●The Constitution envisages a thriving local government with devolved powers, effective local consultative process to deliver public service and development.
●It is for this reason that positions of Mayor and Council Chairperson were provided to enjoy wide suffrage ( elected directly ), so that when resources are given or generated, decisions will be democratic and accountable.
● Central Government increased funding ( equalization fund) to support Councils to pay qualified professionals, Engineers and planners to run the Councils and Municipalities.
● Municipalities and Councils are then expected to run a democratic Government at local level.
● Prioritising CDF has undermined this work. It by-passes an established, elected and capacited infrastructure with its Secretariat, to push CDF as a development agenda.
● CDF is a mere component in this larger scheme of things;
Here are some of the reasons for the Decentralisation Policy;
(i) To empower local communities by devolving decision-making authority, functions and resources from the centre to the lowest level with matching financial resources in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of services;
(i) To design and implement mechanisms to ensure a “bottom-up” flow of integrated development planning and budgeting from the district to the central government;
(ii) To enhance political and administrative authority in order to effectively and efficiently deliver services to the lowest level;
(iv)
To promote accountability and transparency in the management and utilization of resources;
(V) To develop the capacity of councils and communities in development planning, financing, coordinating and managing the delivery of services in their areas;
(vi) To build capacity for development and maintenance of infrastructure at local level;
(vi) To introduce an integrated budget for district development and management;
(vii) To provide a legal and institutional framework to promote autonomy in decision-making at local level;
Key milestones achieved prior to the revision of the Policy include the election of Mayors/Council Chairpersons by universal suffrage, and establishment of the Ward Development Committees (WDCs) and Constituency Development Fund Committees (CDFC) to strengthen citizen participation in local development.
The role of traditional leaders in local governance was also strengthened through their participation in the House of Chiefs, in Councils, and in the Constituency Development Fund and Ward Development Committees.
Another achievement was the increased allocation of human and financial resources to governance structures at local level for enhanced service delivery and development.
Government also decentralised some of its functions to the district level and the Local Authorities, bringing services closerto the people.
The reintroduction of multi-party democracy in 1991 brought changes to the country’s decentralisation agenda.
The Ministry of Decentralisation was transformed into the Ministry of Local Government and Housing.
The enactment of the Local Government Act No. 22 of 1991 separated the party structures from Government structures, and repealed and replaced the Local Administration Act No. 15 of 1980.
Further, in 2002, the Government adopted its first ever Decentralisation Policy which was revised in 2013.
The Constitution of the Republic of Zambia was amended through the enactment of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2016.
The Act enshrined a devolved system of governance in the Constitution under Article 147.
2.2
The Constitution establishes local government as an autonomous level of governance with powers to formulate and implement by-laws and policies.
Article 152 prescribes that the Local Authority shall administer the district and oversee programmes and projects in the district.
The Provincial Administration is an extension of national government, established for the purposes of administering and coordinating the implementation of Government policies and programmes in a province.
Further, the Constitution provides for decentralisation.
The Constitution provides for devolution by way of transferring functions to a sub national authority or opening a branch to a public office or institution to bring a service to the sub-national level.
As responsibilities and functions are devolved from the centre and provincial capitals to Local Authorities and other structures at the sub-national level, Ministries and their subordinate agencies will assume new roles and functions of a supportive, supervisory and regulatory nature.
The Government enacted the Urban and Regional Planning Act No. 3 of 2015 to provide a framework for coordinating urban and regional development, which ensures environmentally sustainable development.
In this regard, Integrated Development Planning was adopted as a principal strategic instrument for operationalising national development priorities at the district level.
Further, the National Planning and Budgeting Act No.1 of 2020 was enacted to provide a national planning framework.
The framework recognised Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) as a critical long-term planning tool at the district level.