Mayor is supposed to be bigger than MPs who are only in-charge of a constituency- Dickson Jere

The Mayor Position
By Dickson Jere

In 2003, I was among those appointed by President Levy Mwanawasa, SC, to draft the country’s constitution under the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission (CRC). We toured the country – all districts and constituencies – to get views of Zambians on what they wanted to be included in the Constitution.

The position of Mayor attracted attention. The majority of petitioners insisted that this position should be elected by direct vote (universal suffrage) and be made “Executive”. This means that the Mayor should be the head of the City and be in-charge of the day-to-day operation as the Chief Executive Officer.

In our Report, on page 518, we recommended thus;

“The Commission is further of the view that it would be appropriate for popularly elected Mayors/Council Chairpersons to have EXECUTIVE power as demanded by some petitioners,” our Report read.

This Report was subject to discussion at the National Constitution Conference (NCC), which later culminated into the 2016 Constitution amendments. Of particular interest is Article 154 of the Constitution which captured our recommendation and made Mayors to be elected by universal suffrage as opposed to the old system of Councillors electing Mayors. However, the amendment omitted the key word “EXECUTIVE” power of the Mayors. That is what has caused the current problem.

In short, Mayors are supposed to be the big shots of the City. All decisions regarding the City are supposed to fall on their desk. Mayors are supposed to be bigger than Members of Parliament. In fact, MPs are supposed to be fighting to be Mayors and not the other way round.

Look at Lusaka City, which has seven (7) Constituencies. All the seven MPs are supposed to be under the Mayor in terms of development. Look at how powerful the Mayor of Paris is. And the Mayor of New York. In some countries, Mayors of big cities jump from their positions straight to contest the presidency! That is how big the position is!

Maybe, someone needs to move the Constitutional Court and argue that the introduction of direct vote for Mayors was coupled with the introduction of executive powers.

The Mayors needs good salary and incentives far more than MPs. Then we can make this position attractive as was envisaged by the Constitution.

Simply put, the Mayor is supposed to be bigger than MPs who are only in-charge of a constituency while the Mayor looks after the entire city. That was the rationale of that amendment in 2016. We need to give the Mayors there powers!