HAVE CURRENT LAWS PLACED COUNCILORS ON WARPATH WITH MPs, MINISTERS? (Part II)
LAST week we looked at the current laws governing the local government system in Zambia.
In so doing we also looked at some of the legal provisions which seemingly place councillors on the warpath with the Members of Parliament (MPs) and ministers.
These are mainly on the composition of the council as well as on how the councillors, council chairpersons and mayors are elected as compared to how MPs are.
For instance, we noted that the Constitution (Amendment) Act number 2 of 2016 provides for a slight change in the composition of council by excluding the MPs.
That has not sat well with some of the lawmakers and seemingly sets up the councilors against the MPs.
The proviso for mayors and council chairpersons to be elected directly, during elections for councilors also sets the mayors and council chairpersons at par with MPs, in some instances, and at higher
pedestal in others.
In instances where a district has only one constituency, like in most newly created ones, the mayors/council chairpersons are elected by the same electoral colleges as MPs’.
I indicated that for bigger districts like Lusaka, Kitwe and Ndola which have more than one constituency, the mayors are elected by bigger electoral colleges than those for MPs.
I wondered whether that could be a bone of contention and partly the motivation of the recent suspension of the Lusaka and Kitwe City Councils!
During the week, Local Government Minister Charles Banda who had suspended the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and Kitwe City Council (KCC) said there was nothing personal about the move.
Dr Banda says the move was not out of jealousy or personal vendetta against the mayors and councilors as insinuated by people in some circles.
But that it was meant to restore sanity in the manner the local authorities administered land, very specific!
Dr Banda clarified also that the suspension of LCC and KCC was in line with the Local Government Act and did not mean that he had suspended the mayors and the councillors from their positions, as was being perceived by some sections of society.
Dr Banda said in an interview with the TIMES OF ZAMBIA that he suspended LCC and KCC as a way of guiding the councils to administer land in a correct manner.
“My job is to guide everybody in the 116 local authorities. How can I be jealous of a junior position? A mayor is very junior to me, a councillor is very junior to me. I am not hoping to become a mayor one
day, not at all.
“My job is to guide so that we do things in the right way. I have never quarreled with any one of the mayors in this country or council chairmen in this country neither have I quarreled with any councillor
in this country at all,” Dr Banda said.
Dr Banda said it was unfortunate that some people were narrowing down councils to individuals and obvious those individuals are known.
“I cannot be jealous of a junior position at all, am up, up, up, up there. … I am not going to fail to do my job just because of people who think they are untouchable and cannot be guided. I will always
guide!” he said.
That is a loaded statement.
On the legality of the suspension, Dr Banda was guided by article 156 of the Constitution and section 56 of Local Government Act number 2 of 2019.
Article 156 of the Constitution states that:
“Councillors shall be collectively and individually accountable to the national Government and residents in their wards and districts, for the performance of their functions.”
The national or central government does not exist in abstract but has natural persons to represent it and one of them is Dr Banda as Local Government Minister under the executive wing of the government.
Councillors, therefore, are collectively and individually accountable to him, as the representative of the national government, as well as to the residents in their respective wards and districts.
To enforce that accountability, Section 56 of Local Government Act, among other things, states that the minister may, by reason of the refusal, failure or inability of a council to adequately perform all or any of its functions, by statutory order, suspend all councilors of the council from performing all of their functions as councillors…
So the disciplinary measure is meted out against the councilors collectively, hence the move by Dr Banda.
You, as a reader, are the best judge on whether factors on which the decision was based are right or not!
For contributions call: 0977 246099, 0955 431442 or email: jmuyanwa@gmail.com
Ends…