Seyuba urges councils to build good image

—–North-western Province Permanent Secretary, Augustine Seyuba, has urged local authorities in the province to build a good image to the public so that they can have confidence in them.

Mr Seyuba said local authorities in the province must take advantage of the decentralization process to build their image by performing according to the mandate given to them.

The Permanent Secretary was speaking when he officiated at the launch of the Provincial and District Devolution Task Forces organized by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing in Solwezi today.

Mr Seyuba urged the Local Government Service Commission to ensure that councils are manned by qualified personnel to avoid instances where some projects are not implemented successfully due to inadequate qualified workforce.

He said once the decentralization process is implemented, accountability will be enhanced as local representatives will be more accessible to the local population, thus being held closely accountable for their policies and outcomes.

Mr Seyuba said the province is more than ready to implement the decentralization process and appealed to all members of the Devolution Task Forces to put in more of their efforts and intellectual towards the task ahead.

The rationale behind decentralization in Zambia stems from the need for citizens in local communities to exercise control over its local affairs and foster meaningful development which requires that some degree of authority is decentralized to provincial, district and sub-district levels in order to remove the absolute control by the central government.