Training of civic leaders to enhance governance

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:10:17 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO & CHITE MTONGA

THE move to train councillors in local government administration will serve as a strategic short-term goal towards improving Zambia’s system of local governance, the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) has observed.

FODEP executive director Chimfwembe Mwenge noted that providing sponsorship to councillors for them to attain diplomas in local government administration was  a step in the right direction as Zambia attempted to decentralize its governance, and attain middle-income country status by 2030. Mr. Mwenge said the move will also work as a remedy in addressing some challenges of capacity among councillors especially that a number of them had been reported to be facing difficulties and failing to discharge their functions in their committees partly due to limited education and poor understanding of local governance administration and their roles.

“FODEP is also confident that with such educational opportunities, the councillors will not fail in their duties but rise to the challenge and offer strong supervisory roles and technical guidance to council staff and ensure that they approve decisions that have positive implications on development and the people.

“FODEP however would like to urge Local Government Association of Zambia and local authorities to bear in mind that the ultimate and successful operations of councils in Zambia will still require more collaboration and support from other political, social, and economic forces in addition to the academic soundness the councillors will acquire,” Mr. Mwenge said. He however said FODEP believed that whilst the training was useful and timely, it should not be taken for granted and assumed that once the councillors were trained, they would automatically deliver without making mistakes. He said his organisation expected specialists and institutions such as the Local Government Service Commission to remain active and continue playing their supportive and monitoring role over the civic leaders and local authority personnel.  “FODEP is also optimistic that in addition to the academic skills and preparedness, the local authorities will be accorded an enabling political environment and local structures such as the Ward Development Committees (WDC) will be respected according to the Constitution for them to deliver social services without any difficulties,” he said.