Five opposition Patriotic Front (PF) controlled councils on the Copperbelt, have said assertions that they have failed to perform despite receiving huge grants from government are not true and were meant to tarnish the integrity of the party.
The Mayors, Stephen Chipungu of Kitwe, Simon Chanda of Chingola, Mufulira mayor Thomson Ngulube and Mayor Ben Mpande for Chililabombwe said at a media briefing held at the Kitwe council chamber that the allegation was not true describing it as unfair.
The civic leaders stated that the five councils are ready to receive the auditors any time but wondered why government has singled out PF controlled councils alone.
The mayors said their councils have performed well under difficult circumstances compared to MMD councils and challenged government to be consistent in giving grants to councils to enable the local authorities improve their service delivery.
Ndola mayor Charles Chiwala who read out the joint statement said the five councils have used the grants from government according to the stipulated conditions and guidelines.
Mayor Chiwala said it was a misconception that rates collected by councils were misused because there have always been auditors from government to audit their books since they took office in 2006 and there has been no alarming audit queries raised.
And Chililabombwe Mayor Ben Mpande said PF councils have fallen victim of political harassment because the Ministry of Local Government has not raised a complaint against them over the alleged failure to perform or misappropriation of funds.
He said the councils have a good working relationship with the Local Government Minister Eustakio Kazonga and questioned why government has come up with such a suspicion now.
Mufulira mayor councilor Thomson Ngulube said the PF mayors have been forced to respond to the statement because they have to protect the integrity of the party.
The mayor said the statement was meant to derail councils’ developmental plans.
On the property rates that councils collect, the mayors said 40 percent of the total collected is spent on service delivery while 60 percent goes towards administrative matters.
Meanwhile Kitwe mayor Stephen Chipungu said councils were unable to collect all the rates a situation he said has led to a shortfall in total revenues which in turn affect the service delivery to the people.
Mayor Chipungu said Kitwe city council received K3 billion from Mopani Copper mines and K958 million from Konkola Copper mines as rates while government was owing the council K7 billion in lieu of rates grants.
President Banda last week directed the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to audit books of accounts for the councils.
ZANIS/
In an ideal situation,the President would firstly act on the current reports about financial irregularities in the foreign missions and ministires,rather than giving a direction for these councils to be audited.RB epitomizes just about everything that is wrong with african politics
Tribalist RB, everything he does is mediocre. The man is just dull!:-@
#1 For sure selective justice, why not start with the big fish? The evidence is there for everyone to see how RB Banda appointed foreign services gang is stealing our money. The worst part is despite them misusing our bucks, there are still unreliable, ineffective and very sarcatic when you go to renew your passports.
As much as fully support the PACT it is good to know IN advance the intergrity of these PACT members who are controling , copperbelt , lusaka, southern and central provinces.If they will be cleared FROM THE SAID VICES then they win the support of the whole country remember ,WE ARE SAYING WE WANT MEN AND WOMEN ON INTERGRITY FULL STOP.
PF is confused. UPND has been used by SATA. just quit the PACT
MMD and Your Politics-Everything is politicing now,what has totally gone wrong with you?Will you not remain with not even a bit of integrity? You don’t speak or act in this manner-it is quite unprofessional-Why not just send auditors do their work than going to the media and speak and speak without subsistance-please you keep on failing us.You also in the councils make sure you are clean.
REMEMBER I AM NON POLITICAL OR PARTISAN BUT FACE REALITY
Well done PF your works are being seen in the Copperbelt.This is just Politicing by MMD. They Know where the take the money to.
Ba RB bena Twabwelapofye!
What about the day light theft of funds in the local govt ministry, police, at HQ, corruption at ministry of works, misappropriation of funds at all ministeries. Uyu banda takwata amano!
I have no problem with the audit of the council. Sata and the council have welcomed this idea. The problem is with selective of councils particularly the PF. That is not feasible. The opposition should also request the MMD to quickly audit the Diaspora fraud scandal.
#10 Sugar Dad – Please supporting RB for his selective audit. Why can’t he clean his own house first than blow the trumpet for PF. What has the MMD councils done and used the funds?
#5 – You are an MMD cadre. You may try to influence the UPND but it won’t work for you and the MMD. MMD has gone out of power.
where is the minister of local govt, i think he / she is the worst minister in Zambia. The minister should have been the one raising the alarm if something was wrong and not getting a directive from the President. and Madame AG when done with the foreign missions please do the municipalities also.
Mr President be careful of what you wish for. If the PF MP’s come out clean you know that you would have put the last nail in your coffin?
Audit everybody!!
Every Ministry, council, foreign mission, and State House itself should be audited if ordinary citizens are to have any faith in these audits. Selective checking of the books will only be seen as cheap politics, and rightfully so.
RB with his “touristic” travels around the globe could be a breeding ground for “Public Funds” mismanagement and abuse. So, RB should also welcome audits of his activities. That would be the fair thing to expect from the president, isn’t it?
By the way, if govt is serious about this issue (misapplication of funds), we await serious corrective measures from them to go after those already identified in the Auditor General’s Report as having misused public funds, and not sidestepping the issue by accusing others of corruption!
Good Morning
“They wondered why government has singled out PF controlled councils alone?”
Well, this is what happens when you have a political system that is dominated by one party. MMD calls the shots because it has the tightest grip on the government. The other problem I see is that there is no public funding for political parties in Zambia, unlike in other countries, so PF and UNDP are still too weakly organised to stand strongly against MMD.
That’s my analysis, but of course I stand to be corrected if I’m wrong.
iye but natu sevanya lelo. iye. i had ka day off lelo. so had inanda to my self. ba madam tavafi temwa fi zed beats, so when am alone eh chance to blast ichilimba na ma zed beats and let me just inform u that ichilimba ni chi sharp awe chila lila.. nafi lamba mpaka fya fuma. so after she left ine mwenkese (chintako) rushed out of bed put put ilya nimbo titled ati ballon type. ya nalichitemwa chi nimbo. mmm elo nafwenkula nomba, mwenkese bane. ahh i danced. and then my wife came back navnankwe avasungu vonse fye. iye i didnt even hear the door. ine busy dancing naked, elochinimbo cha teka, nayisa navika kalya ka dance ka 360 degrees. penis nayena ninshi ile danglinga up and down. nayisa navamona vonse avasungu. ahh nachi fenta. so apa ni recovery fye. deuces bane:)>-
nine chale okayy so u are the one who won ka 50 dollars kalya ati best blogger? 50 dollars=25 pounds= tip to my door man. congrats mune. nalikutemwa sana. uli ka star pa blogg. i only date ama stars wawumfwa? hve u got a boyfriend or girl friend. ine nila yingila fyonse fye as long as chilapema.deuce mune :)>-
Lets ask ourselves bane? What has p.F councellors done for people.Is talking working.Some councils use manual instead of computers.Does this need mmd councellors?
#15 you blog a lot of sense all the time and I respect your opinions.A friend once suggested to take Mrs Thatcher out of retirement and give her the mandate to rule zambia for one term and you’ll see the progress she would make.Our system stinks and the mindsets of our leaders is very narrow.All you need to do to make it in Zambia is by ass licking.Diplomatic missions are packed with cronies and ass lickers,the state of our missions are pathetic.The clown currently oocupying plot one has no clue about what it takes to move the country forward.I do know that there are some brilliant chaps within the MMD who can do a better job than that clown we have for a president.People like VJ,FTJ.Munkombwe,Sata,The clown himself should be in retirement looking after their grandkids and writing books
“On the property rates that councils collect, the mayors said 40 percent of the total collected is spent on service delivery while 60 percent goes towards administrative matters”
This seems upside down. Can any one on this blogg who knows about service delivery or admin, tell me if those figures are the wrong way round or is it normal
The RB is just politicking. It is fact that the MMD has run out of campain ideas and looking for every little loop hole to punch holes in the opposition. In Mwaswasa’s and Chiluba’s tenures these same councils were fully MMD did we see any development ? NO No No!!! To be frank councils stopped functioning whe KK decentrallised them. The only solution is for all of us to sit down and find out how we can get politics out of the councils and make them purely CIVIC. As long as there politics there the MMD will try to frustrate the opposition controlled councils for political mileage.
The reason they they have been singled out is that they are very out spoken on others.So lets see how clean they are too.they have lived in deception for too too long.I shall make sure that all the irregularities are brought out in open.
# 22Chief MMD- Iwe chi muntu your RB said the same thing about the Post and up to now he has failed to substantiate his claims. Iya buluma tailya elyo abakali tabalanda. If these councils have stolen money why talk about it when you ca simply send your MMD controlled ZP to take action. It is just politicks. By the way Lufwanyama is controlled by MMD and as am telling you the entire Management are appearing in court for gloss abuse of funds. Has your RB said anything about that?
Atleast now council workers get their salaries on time than before. In real life you have to displine your child before you displine your neighbours child period. So RB should do the same, displine the embassies then displine PF councils and thats integrity and transparent.
**==Zambia chelo chesu
Ba #17 nimwe ba bunka.
I wonder why MMD is playing the cat and mouse game. Where is the evidence to show that the funds where mismanaged funds%-(:-??
Zambia in general is on auto pilot.the immediate resolution to counter such abuse of funds is to make the Internal Audit strong because they are part of risk management.To wait for Auditor General to highlight vices will not solve these problems.These problems are done purposefully because everyone from Minister to kapaso are beneficiaries.If there are no qualified Internal Auditors outsource from KPMG,PWC etc
Yes, the audit should extend to all councils. Reading the Fifth National Development Plan Mid-Term report, it leaves much to be desired as councils have been sited of not fully contributing to the necessary infromation which would inform on how the FNDP has faired so far. For instance, at district level, all institutions whether government, parastatal or NGO must report to District Development Coordinating Committee-DDCC in a district. But to the contrary, councils do not report to DDCC on how much rates they ve collected and its usage while others do i.e. physical and financial progress. Councils have not promoted transparency and accountability in a district later on a nation.Audit should starts at DDCC level before inviting external auditors. Therefore GRZ should strengthen DDCC.