Role of councillor

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:46:58 +0000

AFTER so much controversy over the issue of councillors’ allowances, it is gratifying that Government has acted with magnanimity and courage to put the matter to rest.

Now that their monthly allowance has been quadrupled from K700 to K3,000 we are certain that many civic leaders, although not excited by the turn of events, at least appreciate that this Government is a listening administration committed to serving the people of Zambia.

Very few people expected this controversy to be resolved so expeditiously and in such a positive manner. What is important is that Government has accepted the assertion that the previous K700 allowance was not enough and it needed to be adjusted.

To show commitment, Government has decided that the councillors’ allowances will no longer be paid by their struggling local authorities but the Ministry of Finance. This is an assurance and a guarantee to all of them that they can expect their stipend to be honoured every month just like the civil servants do.

Our civic leaders must also accept the explanation by the Minister of Local Government that he sought the legal counsel of the Attorney General who advised him that councillors were not full-time workers and therefore cannot draw a salary under Section 71 of the Local Government Act.

This was the basis of their argument that they needed to be paid more money and put on salary because they rendered the same service as Members of Parliament and other constitutional office holders. What is a fact is that councillors are not constitutional office holders or full-time employees in the legal sense of the word. They are part-timers.

Now that this matter has been put to rest and our civic leaders have been dealt a fair deal by Government, we expect them to put the issue behind them and focus on service delivery to their communities. There is so much work to do and the people who elected them are waiting for results.

Councils throughout the country are beset by a myriad of challenges ranging from financial constraints to poor sanitation and lack of safe and clean drinking water. Both urban and rural councils face similar challenges of under-development, though at different scales of gravity.

What is clear is that our local authorities lack committed, passionate leadership at grassroots level. Residents demand efficient, effective service delivery 24/7 but they can only get very little of that. Some areas have been so neglected by their council representatives that they do not even know who they are. And yet these are the councillors pushing for salary.

The new local government dispensation under the decentralisation policy puts the councillor at the core of the development process. The Ward Development Committee as the nucleus of local planning, debate and execution requires the councillor to be dedicated and knowledgeable about his or her job.

Now that power has been dissolved from Lusaka to the provinces, from there to districts and the ward, the work of the councillor has become even more demanding and complex. They will now be required to help manage schools, clinics, social amenities and a host of other services which have now been moved to the ward where the people are.

This is what the new system wants: local governance to permeate the communities so that the people plan, implement and bask in the success of their own efforts. In this manner, as President Edgar Lungu has always preached, no-one will be left behind in the development of their areas.

In other words the councillor, as the first line of defence in the development process, is also the last bastion of good governance. As volunteers, councillors need guts, not more money, to succeed.