THE Ndola City Council (NCC) has joined calls to abolish the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) because it allegedly does not promote Government’s policy on decentralisation.
Ndola mayor Samuel Munthali said in an interview yesterday that local authorities are concerned that the LGSC does not encourage the decentralisation policy.
“We are talking about governance and decentralisation and this commission does not encourage that, so it is just better it is abolished,” Mr Munthali said.
He said the LGSC recently employed 30 firefighters from Lusaka to work in Ndola instead of creating jobs for local people.
“This is not creating employment opportunities for our local people because all workers are being employed from Lusaka, which is not fair,” he said.
Mr Munthali said local authorities want to have authority to employ workers.
He said Government is incurring costs by employing workers from Lusaka because it is required to pay them settling-in allowances when they are deployed to other towns.
“It is just better it is abolished so that there can be decentralisation of governance,” he said.
And Kitwe deputy mayor Godfridah Chulu said Kitwe City Council (KCC) is yet to decide on the matter.
“We are going to hold a caucus meeting tomorrow [today] in the afternoon at Kitwe City Council. We are going to discuss many issues and the issue of the Local Government Service Commission will be one of the agenda items,” Ms Chulu said.
The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has recommended that the commission be abolished because it is a waste of public funds.
Lusaka mayor Mulenga Sata, who read the recommendations before the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, Housing and Chief’s Affairs, said the commission should be abolished for failing to fulfil its mandate.