Thu, 18 Jan 2018 11:20:43 +0000
By CHARLES MUSONDA
THE Patriotic Front (PF) in Eastern Province has accused some councils in the region of abusing the K150,000 monthly local government equalisation fund (LGEF), which government has been disbursing to local authorities.
And a senior PF member has called on the Ministry of Local Government to audit councils over the LGEF.
PF Eastern provincial secretary Joseph Kolosa said in Nyimba that the LGEF was meant for capital projects but some local authorities had opted to use it for unintended purposes.
“The councils have been receiving this fund every month for capital projects like markets, bus stations, and other related projects. Had this fund been used for intended purposes, we would not have had issues of street vending.
“We have received reports that some councils here in Eastern province have been misapplying this fund by using it for allowances and buying motor vehicles and furniture for council chairpersons. As PF we are concerned over the administration of this fund and we are appealing to council leaders to help the President (Lungu) by doing the right thing when they receive the local government equalisation fund,” Mr. Kolosa said.
He said this when he and PF senior member Boniface Botha featured on Nyimba’s Valley FM radio on a special paid for programme.
And Mr. Botha said all councils misapplying the LGEF must be audited because the fund was meant to uplift poor Zambians’ livelihoods.
“We don’t want people to start building illegal trading structures again in the name of councils’ failure to build markets and other trading places for them,” Mr. Botha said.
He said it was unfortunate that Zambia had been hit by cholera and thanked President Lungu for making a bold intervention in curbing further spread of the epidemic.
“Unfortunately we have certain opposition leaders who want to get political advantage out of this cholera crisis. How can a normal person try to gain political advantage from such a deadly disease like cholera?
“They are even inciting people to rise against government so that all efforts that are being made to wipe out cholera fail. But if cholera wipes out the majority population, who is going to vote for them?” Mr. Botha said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Botha has urged all PF members in Eastern province to declare current PF provincial chairman Andrew Lubusha as the sole candidate in the forthcoming party provincial elections.
He said Mr. Lubusha had proved that he was a competent and reliable leader who must continue serving the party in the same capacity.
