Vice President, Rupiah Banda,disclosed that plans are underway by government to re-establish the Local Government Service Commission, LGSC whose mandate would be to ensure that appropriately qualified officers are employed by councils.
The vice president expressed confidence that the reintroduction of the Commission would help contribute towards improving operations of local authorities in the country.
Meanwhile Mr.Banda has directed councils across the country to work towards implementing measures for improved urban planning and management.
The vice president said effective urban planning and management strategies are key to addressing the problem of mushrooming unplanned settlements in the country.
Mr Banda was speaking in Livingstone when he officially opened 52nd Annual Conference of the Local Government Association of Zambia, LGAZ, on Monday.
He said government was concerned over the growth in unplanned settlements in all the districts of the country, particularly urban areas.
He observed that people living in unplanned areas lack access to adequate social services such as water and sanitation as well as health and education facilities.
He said since there were very few councils that have responded to the directive, he was urging Principal officers in local authorities to develop a culture of responding swiftly to directives relating to national development programmes.
Mr Banda also indicated that government has already given financial support to selected nine local authorities to enable them kick start the programme of upgrading unplanned settlements.
And Mr Banda has advised councils across the country to take advantage of the Land Development Fund to open up new areas for development.
He said the councils should apply for the fund in order to access funds for implementation of projects in new development area.
“I am disappointed that only a few local authorities have applied for this fund even though you are complaining that of lack of capital funds to open up land for development,” he said.
“May I remind councils intending to open up new areas for development to apply for the Land Development Fund.” he added.
Mr Banda also urged councils across the country to implement the revised trading license fees as a measure of maximizing council revenue collections.
Well well well………..it is about high time they did. Maybe then they can bring some sanity to the townships.
Thats the way to go RB. Councils need to be run by qualified and competent personnel.Things can improve as long as there is NO POLITICAL interferance in their performance.
hey this guy seems wise.viva Rupiah Banda for president.Zambia is on the right track.Lets just keep danda heads out of positions of authority.
Re-establish, why was it disbanded inthe first place or was this chilupolitics of politicising everything?
what’s he that we have had a bunch of idots running the council?
Ali Simwinga has been Kitwe town clerk as far as it can remember. Is it possible to stay in a position for that long. Guys in Kitwe has he doing fine?
RB..u r talking sense. Zambia will develop if we become and remain professional in our conducts and LG is an important building block . You have my support on this one
I was in Kitwe for 5 years and he had already been TC, he had done a good job I think KCC is one of the best run councils in Zambia. Siwakwi in Chipata even had to go against a Presidential directive to raise money for the council and Chipata Council has never been in arrears with their employees, Siwakwi was at Kalomo Council, the Kalomo council had the same results, so this is when I agree with RB, let them get rid of these politics in the council.
Truth of the matter is Local govt structure/management/system needs a complete overhaul. Starting point is the criteria for choosing the CEO of City councils. I do not think restricting the position to lawyers and LG Admnistrators fits the demands of our overpopulated crammed cities yearning for growth/expansion. Open up the position to engineers/entreprenuers/economists etc. Our getthos ooops I meant to say towns are in a mess and this mess will only get bigger. NCC NEEDS TO LOOK AT TURNING AROUND THESE DYSFUNCTIONAL MUNINCPAL/CITY COUNCILS. SOME “MARSHAL PLAN”
Will that thing a part of the council itself? If you will pick from the same council which in this case is run by unqualified people, I wonder if its necessary to spend money on such projects.
I am more concerned on the attitude/capacity and dysfunctional nature of local authorities in managing land/illegal settlement issues. They have surrended this important funtion to all sort of petty ward and RDC chairmen who have no idea about country and town planning. Small squatter are allowed grow and swell to huge populations/households under their noses almost with tacit approval. Reaction comes too late when the issue becomes political, humanitarian and environmental/health harzard. LOCAL GOVT STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM NEEDS A MASSIVE OVERHAUL. NCC HERE IS A JOB
#11, precisely, this system needs an overhaul and the first point of call which is the NCC is to enact law to depoliticise this pplace, in a discussion on Lical Government in the NCC, they suggested raising the bar for councillor qualifications and expanding who constitutes the council when it meets to include stakeholders such as the general public, rate payers associations, engineers etc, I think other than expanding the council which I think might have an effect on decision making which is a management issues anyway.
RB! WHERE WERE YOU HIDING WITH BRILLIANT IDEAS? VIVA VP.
Only qualified people should run the the ministry of local gov’t.
Good direction! If we begin to think like this, we surely have hope. Once our towns and cities begin to have some semblance of organized planning the better. RB we hope for more such kind of thinking. We definitely have a long way to go, but at least someone is beginning to show positive direction.
One sure way of enhancing accountability in councils is to make all council positions elective – Yes, including the Town Clerk/Governor and Mayor – directly by the citizens of the city/town. No political appointments or inhouse council elections for mayor. The position of the Town Clerk/Governor and Mayor should be limited to a 2-term of 5 years each (a total of 10 years just as that of Republican President). This will serve as a ‘training ground’ for future presidential candidates.
cheers banda good start
The VP knows what Zambia needs to foster sanity and develop. He is a compitent econominst and successful businessman whose years of experience in both politics at home and overseas are add-ons to prosperity.The Government will continue staying focused for the common good.
Bravo Your honor RWB
9 thankx for adding sense.now i feel like starting off from here immediately.pliz RB your ideas must be implemented promptly.Good lucky all guys pa Zed am on my way.
it a brialiant idea that shd be implemented sooner than later. hey plise RB this prog shd fistr be implemented in rural areas. twachula mwe…hey mwela boonse pa zed
It is not the educated it is not the people with degrees that change the nation but it is the set of standards that you set for your selves.I have know were degrees have failed and were no degrees have succeded.
It is not only Ali Simwinga of Kitwe who is the longest serving Town Clerk in Zambia. The others are Andrew Mwanakulanga of Luanshya and Charles Sambondu of Chingola. Both have served the same councils for at least ten years continuously. The only difference as Mwiinga correctly points out is that Simwinga seems to be very effective. His term of office has seen plans to establish two world – class shopping malls at Freedom Park and the projected one along the Kitwe – Chingola road. It is also during his term that a new modern Mufuchani bridge will be constructed across the Kafue River to open a very large area which will literally double the land area for development for Kitwe. Already the M
Already the Mahtani Group of companies has applied for land to develop a new upscale suburb there. What therefore matters is not how long has served a city, but how effectively one has served. In this regard, Simwinga deserves all the accolades for effectiveness and I wouldn’t mind him serving Kitwe for another ten years.
# 22-23 Mr Ali Simwinga has served KCC for more than 10 years. I recall when I was going to UNZA in 1991, he was already the Clerk of KCC. He must have been there since the 80s. Much as he has done well as you purport, I do not subscribe to the notion of a CEO staying in one position for more than 10-20 years. In Management, any CEO should stay in that position for 5 years and move on. THere are many equally capable people that are not given a chance to tun the councils that can do a much better job than Mr. Simwinga. Lets not cultivate the culture of staying in Office as if its a personal property (third, fourth, fifth up to tenth terms)
In addition, he is obstructing other people from aspiring to the position, its time he retired.
#21. I wonder if you have a degree for you to say that. Yes its true but its the type of business you are running. People with no degrees do well when selling at the market while degree holders do well in technical jobs. You cannot put someone with no degree to run a law firm or BoZ, etc. So you should dig deeper before putting your useless isea on this blog.
# 4, Mwiinga, you are very right, the Local Government Service Commission was established before, some 10-15 years go amidst claims by the govt – as the current claims being made by RB – that the Councils were to be ‘sharpened up’, qualified people were going to be employed etc. It did not work and that Commission went into oblivion – it was under funded and was made up of people who were former mayors (the ones who made way for the ‘new deal’ Town Clerks – Kabimba, Simwiinga, Chenda etc etc. It is high time the govt was truly serious about the Councils and not just making statements to make people happy !
#24 – Ali Simwinga has been TC of KCC since about 1992
Yes, Ali seems to be working. Kitwe so far has been doing fine.
But, Chingola………Sambondu asasa mukunyenga bamuka mwine.
This guy thinks by being in this position he can marry every woman that crosses his path. He is a total failure!! we want change in Chingola.
I wonder whether the mess at Chisokone market right in town centre of Kitwe can be called fine. Can you compare the neatness of Kitwe of the 1970s to today and call it fine. Surely standards have dropped. It is dangerous to stay in dirty towns/country for too long. YOU GET USED TO THE FILTH/DIRT AND START TO CALL IT FINE!!!YAABAAH
#21,iam saddened that you have failed to understand the meaning in my sentence.However,it means that though you may have educated and qualified people,but as long as there are no sets of standards to be followed between the leaders and the people,things will be done in haphazard and no one will take responsibility.Since independenc Zambia has provided professionals,people with quality education but and yet we have unplaned compounds.Garbage remains uncollected and blocked sewers are a daily sight.These my friend has been going on for almost forty years.As i have stated on #21,i have had an observation were degree holders have failed and none degree holders have succeded.My friend…………
#30 They say you can take a boy out of the village but you cannot take the village out the boy. How do you expect someone who spent his entire childhood herding cattle i the bush or fishing on a lake to make a good town clerk/local administrator etc inspite of their degrees some guys just have no standards at all. They dont even know what standards are?
Continued from#30..educated Zambians with degrees the president included have failed to run mines,instead they have given them to investors from the east who present their money as the qualification and they are able to run the mines unlike educated Zambias with degrees.We have being hearing the statement of the vise president for years but where are we now?I personally would prefer a statement that empowers people.People having a forum were they can be informed and understand the services that the council is supposed to provide for them and the actions they can take if this services were not provided.
# 31,what shall we do then?
amendments on #30 instead of 21 am refering to #26 Zambian Sydney.
#29 is very correct. I used to live in Kitwe, and knew the town when it was a beauty… But the more recent times I have been there, its terrible to say the least. Though Mwiinga has been there for a long time, you cant blame him entirely. What about the citizen themselves, what is their role? Remember they even objected to the setting up of the shopping mall at freedom park, untill lately.
Development requires citizen being involved as well.
Maybe they are waiting for Moses Katumbi to come back show them how to get involved.
#33 Neddy
1.Minimum qualification for councillors should be form five in town and cities form two in rural areas.
2. Academic detailing of elected councillors and council officers on basic town planning and public hygiene
3. Heavy jail sentences for ward/RDC/market chairmen that break the law for illegal settlement.
4. Bulldoze all illegal buildings. EMPTY Threats without action are useless (Mugabe did it in ZIM 2005)