Friday, March 29, 2024

PF Government has Failed to Deliver on the Legislative Requirement to Remit Funds to Local Councils

Share

Tourism and Arts Minister, Charles Banda
Local Government and Housing Minister Charles Banda

By: Anthony Bwalya – UPND Member

In the fiscal year ended December 2019, the PF led government, through the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) collected net tax revenues of K52.9 billion. According to the legislative requirements laid out in section 45(A)(1) and (2) of the Local Government Act, at least 5% of this money i.e. K2.645 billion should have gone towards the Local Government Equalization Fund (LGEF) to support the service delivery of our city, municipality and district councils; as well as meeting personnel and other capital expenses of our councils.

This means that in 2019, as a bare minimum, each one of our 103 councils (I beg to be corrected on the total number) were by law entitled to K25.7 million per annum, or K2.1 million per month in LGEF remittances by the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry for Local Government.

But throughout the entirety of the year 2019, the PF government failed to consistently deliver on the legislative requirement to remit LGEF to councils, with 68 of the most vulnerable district councils left practically dysfunctional. And while we await confirmation of the purported disbursement in respect of LGEF to 116 councils as recently reported in some sections of state run media, there is still no clarity around how much money has infact been disbursed by the PF regime and for what period.

What is without question, however, is that workers across most of our councils have not been receiving their salaries for several months and that delivery of critical community services by councils has been a real mountain to climb.

The reason we are worried and passionate about this issue is because it just does not disrupt the ordinary lives of ordinary people, it also disrupts community development efforts at constituency and ward levels where and when councils have a responsibility to deliver services e.g. garbage collection, environmental monitoring and management, as well as causing delays in the decentralization of council operations such as delivery of licensing services, issuance of various permits etc. Please note that the decentralized of council services can be a real drive towards creating employment for our citizens at the most basic level.

This is why once we get elected as Member of Parliament for #Kabushi, our drive will be to achieve the decentralization of some city council services towards Constituency centers for purposes of simplifying and expediting the manner our people deliver and receive services at the most basic level. But for this happen, government must dutifully abide by the law and deliver on the promise of both LGEF and CDF to our Constituency ( and others).

We will, therefore, continue to advocate that communities elect and install political leadership leadership that is visionary, disciplined, focussed and of sound judgement to ensure that we give ourselves a decent chance of moving our communities to the next level in the development cycle.

16 COMMENTS

  1. Local government is supposed to generate it’s own income from levies, licence fees, ground rates, etc. Central government should not depend on national government, but actually show national government the way. Lawless cadres have taken over both local and national government functions.

    Our failure at local government level is the very simple reason why we are failing at national level.

    • Misinformation and Disinformation is the Modus Operandi and ill-proaganda of the upndead.

      Hihihihihihihihihihi!
      Kikikikikikikikikkiki!
      Kwekwekwekwekwe!

      See how s.i.l.l.y Anthony sounds. A total U5 goon with no progressive guts.

    • Sir, with due respect how do you expect most of those council’s in the areas that were declared carelessly survive economically? Are you genuinely a Zambian? If yes do you ever visit the country side? Do you know that enterprise value in placed like Nkeyema, Nsama, Mushindamo and the like are zero? From where can you realistically expect them to generate revenue to support the pay structures of establishments predetermined by Lusaka? C’mon,mate, let’s be serious!

  2. You are an I.d.i.o.t my brother. Because everyone knows that your upnd friends notoriously shunned the NDF forums. so please keep your complaints to yourself or complain to your little demagogue Hh. Kz

    • Point!! The biggest opposition in our land has failed to realise their role-to propose progressive laws and legislation. Instead they draw their allowances and abandon their job and insult the PF GRZ all over their sponsored media. In parliament they raise points based on social media rumours. WE HAVE THE WORST OPPOSITION IN THIS COUNTRY’S HISTORY.

    • The sickness brought into politics by upndead is retrogressive.
      They are do nothings who thrive on theorist approaches to governance issues.
      They think by shunning national programs, they are so cool. That’s why they lack experience.
      They shun national functions.
      They walk out’a parliament.
      They don’t participate in pragmatic legislative discourse to fine tune national laws yet they cry like do nothing shrills claiming to be saints.
      Sole losers! Disgruntled citizens! Ungovernables! Speaking of which, if you are ungovernable, how do you hope to govern????

  3. So PF where are you taking our money. I just shipped a car to Zed and I was forced to pay a lot of money to clear it which I did thinking the money is going to help our country, now this. People pay a lot in taxes, Kaizer tell us where you are taking it instead of insulting. This is serious, I know Zambian are very docile just watching these thieves steal, it is high time we made them accountable. You strict councils of their revenue by allowing cadres to run bus stops and markets now you even failing to give them money. This is a crime since the money is required by law to be submitted

  4. PF is failed project, wasted time that will never be recovered under this dull so called president, the chap is the worst president on earth, scatter rotten teeth, the thieving lawyer wanna be.. useless drunk

  5. They divert the Council revenues meant for ensuring councils function properly to campaigning & paying useless musicians to compose silly songs for them like Donchi Kubeba, & Dununa Reverse, whilst the town gets flooded, & their same staunch supporters get sucked into uncovered drains & get swept away during rain storms, never to be seen again.
    THAT LADIES & GENTLEMAN IS THE FOLLY OF VOTING FOR VISIONLESS THIEV!NG GHETTO SUPERSTARS LIKE J0N@ CH@K0LW4 & BRUT@L CH!MPY0NGO!

  6. God damn, just look at how aesthetically repulsive this Minister Banda is? Is it bakoswe balelya making them look so ugly? It’s like Nkandu Lunyo, she resembles an alpha baboon from kwa naBwalya so bad the Americans refused to issue her a visa claiming she needs to apply under the animal category that include a compulsory one month quarantine period! The baboon declined to apply!

    • That’s all you know, insults!! You think removing PF is the answer yet there are no developmental ideas in your heads. You think hh has monopolised wisdom that will magically transform this country in 1 week?? Very sad indeed!!! Google your diggers editorial-“PF need a Mwanawasa…”

  7. Anthony Bwalya you said? I have no time to even read his hogwash, same as Sunday Chanda of PF corruption, malabishi yekayeka.

  8. I think the reason why Zambia is poor is because we waste too much time on politics than developing the country every body just wants to go to state house how can 10 people go to state house at the same time our leaders are just greedy they don’t even have a heart for the country they just want to get rich.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading