Chief Macha of Choma District in Southern Province has accused the Local Government Service Commission for the ongoing disturbances at the Choma Municipal Council where operations have now been paralysed.
Chief Macha alleged that the municipal council is now on a path to self-destruction resulting from measures instituted by the Commission through the transfer of town clerk Oliver Muuka.
He told ZANIS in Choma today that the commission has implemented transfers without consultations with local leaders like chiefs which have now caused a backlash at the council.
“The commission must know that the power lies with the people and if the people do not want something, there is no way it will be imposed on them,” chief Macha said.
“I have personally spoken to the Commission Chairman and the Minister of Local Government asking them to reverse the situation in order to restore normality at the Choma Council,” he added.
Chief Macha has charged that delays by government to intervene will see the council in Choma completely grind to a halt at a time when President Sata has upgraded the District to provincial capital.
Chief Macha noted that the commission should realise that local government is for the people who must be allowed to express their needs.
He said the Choma Municipal Council has plunged into a management crisis because of unilateral actions by the Commission.
“I was to tell the local government commission to respect the wishes of the people. The commission is not superior to the collective wisdom of the local people in Choma,” he noted.
Chief Macha said the transfer of Town Clerk Oliver Muuka which has now sparked protests was done without considering the implications of such a move in a town like Choma which is politically volatile.
The office of the Town Clerk in Choma was yesterday locked while Mayor Geoffrey Makwamba was expelled from the United Party for National Development (UPND) as a result of the disturbances at the council.
The Patriotic Front has been protesting the transfer of Oliver Muuka, culminating into clashes between the PF officials and Choma Mayor.
ZANIS
Chief in Gum Boots!
If you look at the back ground you will see that the photo was taken during the rain season. He could have been caught when he had just come from the fields. These are chiefs that work for their money not …….
Of course you cant see he is in gum boots? He is a farmer and this photo was taken at his farm in the rain season, look at the green grass. What do you want him to wear?? This tells me that the chief is a hard worker and i should think you have never seen the president of the republic of Zambia in gum boots!!!!!!
Meaning he is a worker. Mind we are in rain season and Gum boots are the ideal shoes.
WHAT DO YOU HIM TO WEAR? SUIT?
@Nubian naiwe, understand that the man is still an energetic Tonga man who goes about to his fields and can touch a plough or mount a tractor. I have no qualms with that. He must be a worker Chief. Leading by example.
I totally agree with chief macha local government commission didnt do a good job. Just accept your wrong doings and make things right, because from now on we are watching your every move including the audit report for choma which you are ignoring
But the pic is not for Chief Mach I know. This must be a representative!
the local something is fake..they are not there to serve Zambia..
The chief is a farmer
THE MAN IN THE PICTURE IS ACTUALLY CHIEF MACHA.A VERY PRACTICAL MAN WHO SCORED A FIRST IN THE WHOLE AFRICA FOR PROVIDING A TOILET PER FAMILY IN HIS KINGDOM.HE GOT AN AWARD IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM UNICEF.AS FOR THE GUM BOOT YOU ARE SEEING IN THE PICTURE,A JOURNALIST WHO TOOK THE PICTURE HAD TO PERSUADE HIM TO COME OUT OF HIS FIELD TO GET THAT INTERVIEW.SO THE GUM BOOTS HERE BWANA SYMBOLIZES HARD WORK.THIS IS ONE OF THE CHIEFS WHO DOES””T DEPEND ON HIS SUBJECT FOR FOOD HE PRODUCES WHAT HE EATS.I THOUGH I SHOULD EXPLAIN TO THOSE WHO DON””T KNOW HIM LIKE THE NUPIAN PRINESS ABOVE AT# 1.
Granted the Commission, is empowered to effect transfers but the question is what are the underlying reasons they consider when transfering chief officers? Can the Commission point at any council where with the tranfers so far effected the respective officers have gone to improve service delivery to the people in the districts they have been transfered to? Some
are being tranfered because they are taking up higher responsibilities but the majority of the transfers seem tilted towards displinary reasons.The question is are transfers are a panacea to the management challenges in local Government? Is the LGSC not transfering problems from one Council to another.Is this decentralisation if control is still being held by some people in an somewhere office in Lusaka.Can some one shed light?
@HAMBWILI-ABANA#8
You are right this man in the above picture reminds me of hard working Boers farmers here in South Africa. In fact these Tongas are hard working, proud, very assertive people and do not change their minds that easy.They are like our Afrikaaners (the Boers) they believe in their own traditions and culture. They do not welcome outside interventions and they always view such tendencies as insults to their old age traditional values. Like the Tongas, the Boers do not welcome hand outs from any quarters as they are treated as depicting the Boers as being lazy people. Boers believe in tilling the land and maximising returns, thus they always wear kirk shots and guum boots. Most of their time is spent in their fields.
Good Chief…….
Kirk or Khaki shorts?
@Chindakwanda-Galileo GAlilei#12
Sorry for that in fact it is supose to be, as in colour of ‘khaki’ not the name of a church as a noun.