Local Government and Housing Minister, Sylvia Masebo has suspended Chadiza District Council.
The move comes barely two days after Acting President, Rupiah Banda, ordered Ms Masebo to address the water crisis that has faced Chadiza for the past three weeks.
The minister has also suspended all grants  to the council until competent people are put in office to run the affairs of the council.
Ms. Masebo said the Local Government Ministry will send an auditor to carry out investigations on how the council has been using funds meant for service delivery to the community.
The minister asked the police to guard the council premises until the auditor arrives so that no documents are tampered with.
She further said a  qualified Council Administrator will take over the running of the council during the period the council will be on suspension.
Ms Masebo ordered that a special full council meeting be held on Monday to consider the move she has taken.
On the water crisis, Ms Masebo said officials from her ministry will be in Chadiza on Monday and ensure that  water supply is stored before the end of next week.
Ms. Masebo who was in the company of Eastern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary, Eurariah Syamujaye, and Provincial Local government Officer, Alex Bwalya, said  the Council has failed the people of Chadiza district.
She said Chadiza District Council lacked qualified personnel and management did not seem to know what was expected of them.
The Minister wondered why unqualified people were holding management positions when the country had a lot of university graduates roaming the streets.
Ms. Masebo was incensed at the council management’s inability to answer her questions about how the council had spent government financial grants meant to improve water supply.
She complained that Chadiza District Council’s failure in service delivery was painting a bad picture about her ministry, Â when the ministry was constantly giving the council money to help the community.
And Chadiza Central Member of Parliament, Allan Mbewe, thanked the minister for suspending the council saying the move was long overdue.
Mr. Mbewe said Chadiza council was standing in the way of development because it was not interested in seeing the district develop.
Mr. Mbewe said he was bound to fail if the current council management continued  in office as no development would come to Chadiza.
He said it was embarrassing that Chadiza council was one of the few  councils  that had not received the Constituency Development Fund on account of not having done retirement of the previous allocation.
ZANIS/ENDS/HH/CMM/EB.
A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO DREAM THAT SATA WILL WIN,RB IS THE FOURTH PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA WETHA YOU LIKE WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN OR NOT.WETHA U SUPPORT HIM OR NOT, HE’S ALREADY PRESIDO, SO U KAMBA CHANI IWE,YOU HAVE NOT EVEN VOTED BEFORE.
Aha maybe Masebo is seeking a job on the BOTI by implementing Sata’s methods ha ha ha
MMD IS WORKING SERIOUSLY FOR A BETTER ZAMBIA
leaving it a little late aren’t they #3?
Visit http://www.thecitizensdemocraticparty.com
desperados….leaving things till late.There is no power where I am here in Luapula,Can RB please order Sisala to loook into this immediately!
This chica is on fire
Why has it taken the minister all this time to realise that a small rural council has not been performing to expectations. Is it the Chadzi council who has failed the people or the minister her self for not having taken interest in running of small councils in Zambia until this time during voting?
As far as i can remember when i was in Zambia in 2000, provision of water and sanitation was the responsibility of independent utility companies and not the council because this was taken away from them but through NWASCO.
She’s really annoying
How many councils is she going to suspend over water blues? The other time she was in Livingstone and there was no water in the Mayor’s toilet — as a matter of fact the Livingstone Civic Centre had no water. Why didn’t she suspend that council? Or ist because her boss didn’t bark about it? She is nothing but a reactive loud mouth.
Sata once said she is just an impala trying to behave like a buffalo now she needs a job desperately so she wants to show us that she works. one thing about her is she talks too loud for nothing especially when it suits her.how dare she suspends the chadiza council when LCC seroiusly needs resasitation and her office is just LCC nose.these guys think we still have time to waste,get serious bane,who ever you vote must genuily qualify to lead the nation thats why your vote is power.
i actually forgot it was independence day,
Do we really need District Commissioners ? It all began as Chiluba’s idea of rewarding cadres to back his third term and Levy failed to address the problem ( he could not remove those cadres because they are “useful” to MMD ).Total waste of resources.
too late masebo and RB we coming the owners the councils
The fact of the matter. If Masebo is really serious about addressing council issues, she needs to suspend all councils. No council is operating well in zambia. I want to challenge anyone in MMD to explain why they have allowed mediocre chaps to run councils since time immemorial in the farcical name of decentralisation. Council have not paid their staff for up to 20 months. When the staff complain they are told to resign. I have the facts. Chadiza is just a scapegoat. What we must do as a country, a) the council workers must be put back on government payroll b) if staff are not put back on governemnt payroll, then we do not need councils in zambia.
last kicks of a dying cow
When she suspends the Council, who is involved? Someone help please.
Or rather who makes up Council?
# 10 You should respect yourself, where are your manners and who taught you ABC?
There is no one to help me?
Pumpy, a district council consists of elected councillors from various parties in the area. These councillors are ward councillors, and any MPs in the council. They are like the board of the council, the polic making body. They recruit staff and fire staff. They do all the things a board would do for a company. They pay council staff salaries (which they have failed to do in zambia). So, the Minister has powers to dissolve a non performing council. In that case, she can dissolve the council, by firing all top management in this case Council Secretary, and other management AND also dissolve the councillors, which means the councillors cease to be members of that council. Its a gimmick.
Masebo!
Countdown: 5 days 5 hours 50 minutes remaining and we are counting.
Vote for HH for a real ray of Chnage and Hope that all Zambians can believe and trust in.
To this end, I ask RBB and MMD to quickly endorse HH for Zambian President. Munkombwe was quoted as saying the Sata may win if MMD makes a single or simple mistake. So, MMD stand up for what is right. It is not too late for RBB to infrom the Nation through ZNBC TV and radio with Times of Zambia together with Zambia Daily Mail that let all vote for HH.
May you all Zambians have a great weekend. I am leaving for a SABBATH recess. Thank you all for you support.
What should really happen in Zambia regarding councils is that a) council staff should be cicvil servants b) councillors should not be board members c) councillors can be in the DDCC as members. The councils should be divorced from politics and operate as profession service delivery mechanism for the district. But why can’t we have such a scenario? Political greed. I for one would even scrap the whole concpet of councils in Zambia. It hasn’t worked ever since inception. You have heard of the proverbial definiton for madness? doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That’s Zambia’s madness over the councils.
21. Thanks
Do these Councillors cease to be councillors? Do you elect new ones?
Lt. the insult in the title name of #10 is too direct and offensive please do something.
People where re you? So you re just busy in taverns!
Ine bwato batata.
Go girl Sylvia go. I have worked with you and know how hard working you are rain or sunshine. Go girl we are winning with RB, pankoloko whetehr you like it or YES! GO RB GO! CHIBA KALIPE OVER!
Zambian prophet (Ba neba) your postings make alot of sense.they show you know what you are talking about and someone can learn something.
i hope the people who are here to campaign can learn to share tangable ideas,shed some ignorance off than just writing slogans and spoil the chain of postings
Amigo!
Not all Graduates can solve water blues, you need experienced leaders with graduate qualifications.
thanx masebo, 4 hiding to rb ‘s directive, the mmd is working shame on u 4 sata
fakani poni ine ku chadiza council.
My babie,Masebo,leave those chaps alone and come buc to me.I miss you,Boo.
I know you are just doing your job,but how are they going to feed their families while you and i are busy here having fun…
Typical mmd reactionary policies. Instead of be proactive and anticipate problems they wait for problems, then go all guns blazing for publicity’s sake. Masebo is just a big mouth infront of the media. You will only hear her take action agaist dirty markeks when cholera breakes out.
Angoni tiyeni tipangane chintu chimozi,lets vote for RB because he has shown a lot of maturity and despite unfavourable coverage the man is yet to be above all odds.tisungeko chalo nasewo,bantu bamu Zed pls lets give the man RB a chance!Sata is unpredictable,we might be heading for doom.HH is good maybe the best,but his is 2011.let RB continue where Levy left.
Another crap in # 37 displaying total tribalism.
Just when will you grow up? Didnt you read comment# 30?
FYI, the more you compaign for RB or tribal lines, the more he loses touch.
Ati mungoni! ha ha ha ha
I conquer with you # 37 angoni.
Pumpy, sorry I went away to some Deutchaland tech transfer venture. When a council is dissolved, the councillors cease to become councillors. However, this is not a real solution to the council problem. Graduates cannot be attracted to councils because the employer is not government anymore. The employer is the councillors. So, only a crazy graduate would accept to work in a council wihtout being paid for 12 – 20 months in most cases. The institutions are so political, they are irrelevant to 2030 vision. That’s why I advise that staff be placed back on government payroll, and councillors be removed from the board. They can sit on the DDCC (this is a district coordinating committee for devt.
Suppergal
Ba Neba, you are also quite intelligent to pick that up. The problems at home are not insurmountable. However, you have to search through a million Zambians to find one who is simply dedicated to do the work and not to enrich themselves once placed in aposition of power. We are so few, compared to other neighbouring countries and we should have been able to live fairly comfortably. But who cares about others? Take the land issue for instance? How many hectares of land are lying idle in Zambia. And yet how many Zambians are desperately looking for land to develop? How does one explain that? Well, I ‘ll be there during the polling day, and shall send updates.
Reminds me of the Zambian song, who sang this song ‘mu ma mvela bwanji mu nkala pa mwamba….`’ Is it MC Wabwino? Refers to leaders, why they lose focus once in power….Or does it?