Workers at Mbala Municipal Council in Northern Province have not been paid their salaries for the last nine months.
And civic leader in the district has accused council management of mismanaging the affairs of the local authority, leading to workers going without salaries for nine months now.
Opposition Patriotic Front (PF) Councillor for Lapisha ward, Clemus Sikombe, charged in a statement to ZANIS that Mbala Municipal Council has failed to pay its workers for the past nine months due to mismanagement of funds and property.
Mr Sikombe charged that the council management has failed to call for full council meetings for the past seven months, adding that it has also failed to come up with civic calendar for the local authority.
But when contacted for a comment, Mbala Municipal Council Town Clerk, Raphael Phiri, dismissed the allegations as false.
Mr Phiri said the correct position was that workers are only owed three months salaries amounting to about K70m.
He explained that the council has been having difficulties to clear the arrears due to the non remittance of the grant by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and the low revenue levels.
On the alleged failure to hold council meetings, Mr Phiri explained that the council was still waiting for instructions as the they could not hold elections to elect new office bearers when the civic year ended in September last year.
He said the council has not yet constituted the various committees following the directive to postpone the holding of elections by the Minister of Local Government and Housing last year.
ZANIS/ENDS/HM/EB
9 months is just too long! How do they expect people to survive? This is taking people way too for granted. How further can you push a man when he’s already at the edge?
Give Mbala Town Clerk same treatment as Kitwe Town Clerk. Lock up and beat up by council workers then town clerk will learn to do his job.
Yaba, even the workers are patient! Nine months? No difference with working for mahala!
So if someone goes and steals 2 goats, can you jail them?. I feel it is very unfair that pipo are being treated like secound class citizens. No wonder some pipo resort to stealing 2 goats. and fimo fimo
… and the Sagger continues. Falls down to economic management, nothing else!