Lusaka’s most active Civic Leader (Councilor) Mainda Simata has charged that several civic leaders in Zambia are resigning from their positions due to the low pay, which has put them at or below the poverty level.
Simata said the recent resignation of Kaela ward councilor in Lupososhi District of Northern Province, Baron Kaunda, to join a cleaning job in the Ministry of Health as a cleaner, speaks volumes of low remuneration and expressed concern over the impact on service delivery and representation.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times- ZBT, Simata disclosed that the k3000 monthly remuneration for councilors is not enough and does not correlate to the amount of work that councilors are expected to perform.
He explained that councilors are mostly forced to use their personal money to fund ward development committees (WDCs).
Simata revealed that with the enhanced Constituency Development Fund (CDF) disbursement, councilors have a lot of administrative work to do as they are expected to sensitize people on CDF, help people apply, and provide logistical support. “Councilors also have to travel from one place to another, educating people about CDF.”
He said this creates a financial burden for councilors, who do not receive any other allowances apart from the k3000 monthly allowance.
“In remote areas such as Lupososhi, there is a member of Parliament who is not always present, so the responsibility of ensuring that the CDF service delivery is going on in the ward is for the councilors, and it is not a cheap thing. The particular councilor in Lupososhi resigned because he was looking for income that could sustain him and his family because councilor work is volunteer work,” said Simata.
Simata noted that if not properly managed, the continued resignation of civic leaders due to low remuneration will affect members of the general public in terms of service delivery and representation, which might also trickle down to the government in terms of incurring costs of by-elections.
“It’s quite unfortunate that the civic leader has resigned and he’s not the first councilor to resign, others have joined the teaching service and other professions and it’s sad because this will continue to affect people in terms of service delivery and representation because by elect elections take time and are costly. There have been talks that the allowances are going to be increased which has been going on for the past three years and up to now there is still no implementation so I think perhaps some frustration could have gotten to our fellow councilor in Lupososhi,” he said.
He since called for councilors’ remuneration to be increased so that they can perform their duties without having an impact on their personal income.
Simata said that talks to increase councilors’ remuneration have taken longer than expected, and councilors’ allowances must be increased to allow them to perform their duties without having an impact on their personal income or without them having to make sacrifices from their pockets to fund operations that are beneficial to the people and government.
“Councilors allowances must be increased. We are not saying that they must be paid a lot of money but councilors must have allowances to allow them to perform their duties without having an impact on their personal income or without them having to make sacrifices from their pockets to fund operations that are beneficial to the people and government,” said Simata.
