Council emoluments receiving government attention-Chitotela

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Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security Ronald Chitotela has said government was working tirelessly to address the issue of emoluments for councils in the country.

 

Mr. Chitotela, who is also Pambashe Member of Parliament (MP) in Kawambwa district, said the Patriotic Front (PF) government places a lot of importance on the work of councils and was therefore ready to support them accordingly.

 

He said this during the seventh ordinary full council meeting in Kawambwa district today.

 

He disclosed that government was almost concluding the way forward on council emoluments after receiving a proposal from the salary review committee.

 

Mr. Chitotela however declined to give details of the discussions which is currently under Cabinet saying it would be premature especially that salaries were always a sensitive subject for people.

 

He has since called for patience from councils to allow government to consider all necessary issues that would be affected when emoluments were adjusted.

 

He said among the issues to be considered were inflation and economic growth.

 

Mr. Chitotela added that government should be given enough time to address people’s concerns because it had only been in office for less than two years.

 

Earlier, the Kawambwa district council has today unanimously elected Councillor Wellington Mwewa as vice chairperson for the district.

 

Mr. Mwewa has since called on government to quickly resolve the issue of emoluments for councils.

 

He said the council was concerned with the pace at which government was moving to approve the salary review committee’s submissions on emoluments.

 

Meanwhile, Kawambwa Council Secretary Njapau Maseka has revealed that the council has identified land for the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) to set up a new solar plant in Kawambwa.

 

Mr. Maseka said the land was acquired through customary means noting that the council was still consulting stakeholders to ensure that it adhered to both socio-economic and environmental standards.

 

He said there may be a delay in ZESCO implementing the project because the land will have to be approved by the Zambia Environment Management Agency (ZEMA).

 

And Kawambwa Member of Parliament (MP) Nixon Chilangwa has tasked the council in Kawambwa to avail members with details on the exact locations of the boreholes that were reported to have been drilled and sunk in Kawambwa.

 

Mr. Chilangwa, who is also Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, said he has been asking for the list from the council since the beginning of 2012 and up to now was not aware of where exactly those boreholes will be done.

 

Today’s Kawambwa district council meeting is the first gathering since December 22, 2012.

 

Some of the areas of discussions included infrastructure development, housing and land acquisition in Kawambwa.

 

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