By JOHN KOMBE
THE office of the District Commissioner (DC) should be depoliticised as it provides oversight in the implementation of government policies at district level, a former DC has said.
Kaniki Bwalya, who was DC in Mungwi, said the office was important as it linked government policy implementors with the community on the ground.
He therefore urged the government to depoliticise the office to attain the original reason for its creation.
Mr Bwalya charged that the office had been abused by politicians who have used it as a conduit to fulfil political ambitions.
He pointed out that the office of the DC must be held by a person who was able to understand and interpret the government policies without being politically inclined.
The former DC said that the office has been abused because it has been held by people who were political surrogates and were put there to fulfil a political motive.
Mr Bwalya, who is a University of Zambia graduate, proposed that a DC must have the requisite qualification that befit that office.
He said that for a person to function effectively as a DC, they needed to articulate government policies without being politically biased.
Mr Bwalya further suggested that the office of the DC be restructured because the addition of an office for a District Administrative Officer (DAO) was a duplication of work.
He said that the current situation where the DAO is the technocrat and the DC a politically inclined person must be realigned.
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