HARARE- Parliament has summoned local government minister July Moyo to come and explain how his ministry was administering devolution amid claims of continued meddling and abuse of funds belonging to local authorities by the under-fire top government official.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) recently petitioned Moyo for allegedly usurping the powers of local authorities among a slew of alleged constitutional violations by the controversial politician.
CHRA’s regional advocacy officer Rueben Akili, accused Moyo of undermining the devolution adding that the minister’s undue influence on the affairs of local authorities was affecting the city’s capabilities to deliver smooth services to residents.
“Our view and position as CHRA is that whenever there is what we call devolution we have got four pillars of devolution: the political, fiscal, legislative and administrative.
“If you look around the issues of Pomona and purchase of fire tenders, you will realize that political power or the power to make decisions by our local authorities have been taken by the minister.
“The power to even implement decisions has also been taken. So it’s no longer devolution where the minister decides when, what and where to buy using devolution funds,” said Akili.
Most urban councils, which are run by the country’s main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), have accused Moyo of abusing his office to interfere with their obligation to provide adequate service delivery on numerous occasions.
Harare mayor Jacob Mafume recently demanded that local authorities be shielded from central government interference, as required by the constitution.
In the same vein, Akili stated that central government meddling was making it difficult for local governments to account to residents on issues such as service delivery and devolution fund utilization.
“In line with our petition which we submitted to parliament, we are saying that there is a need to ensure local authorities are given the opportunity to make decisions and also to administer and when they do that it becomes devolution.
“We can look at our local authorities such as the city of Harare where the allocation versus the disbursement, the disparity of what has been disbursed and allocated is worrisome.
“So we want to find the rationale that has been informing the ministry to allocate little revenue to local authorities such as the city of Harare versus the disbursement,” added Akili.
Akili said when Moyo appears before parliament he should explain the “constitutionality” of some controversial decisions made by his ministry.
“Also there is that need to share the revenue allocation formula being deployed to allocate and disburse devolution funds to local authorities.
“The Minister must be able to also bring bills that will guide devolution implementation so that parliament can enact enabling legislation which will guide allocation of devolution funds,” said Akili.
