Bowman Chilosha Lusambo writes:
The Neglected Plight of Councillors
From the time the increase in CDF was announced, attention and excitement has centred around how the funds will be allocated.
Now that the revised CDF guidelines have been launched, we wish to draw the attention of the nation to a matter that we believe will determine the success or failure of the new CDF.
Since 2017 when through a Statutory Instrument, the PF government increased by 300% amounts paid to Councillor as Sitting Allwownces from K700 to K3,000, there has not been any upward adjustments.
Now that we are hoping to drive national development through communities, it has become imperative that Allowances paid to Councillors are revised immediately. Councilors offer the most direct link to the people and a government that seeks to channel development right down to the people, should as a matter of priority, address the plight of Councillors.
We therefore propose amendments be made to the Local Government Act that will capture the need to pay Councilors a fixed Salary and revised upwards their Sitting Allowances. We have already demonstrated that Mayors and can be salaried, it is now time to do the same to all the Councillors in the 1,858 Wards across the country.
On average, a Member of Parliament takes home around K50,000 while City Mayors earn about K25,000. The paltry K3,000 that Councillors take home is a mockery and says a lot about our resolve to drive development from bottom up.
It is true that since 2017 when the Councilors had their Allowances revised, the cost of living has tripled and that amount has now been swallowed up. Even if Vouncollors perform part time duties, the amount of work and time put in serving the community should be compensated appropriately in order to motivate them. In many of our communities with Absentee MPs, Councillors end up playing double roles.
Increasing their Allownaces and paying them a Salary is the only decent thing to do considering the amount of work they do.
We wish to warn the nation that If Councillors are not well taken care of, the new CDF approach will be a total flop.
BCL
13.02.22