Under the new constitution, the central government must finance provincial tiers of government to the tune of 5% of the total national budget.
Since 2013 this provision has been ignored, in fact the government continues to undermine the implementation of devolution through illegal appointment of Provincial Ministers and a deliberate reluctance to pass enabling legislation. This as well is disrespectful.
Central government therefore owes lower tiers of government in excess of 1,2 billion dollars since the enactment of the new constitution in 2013.
To make matters worse, government related individuals including the Zanu PF provincial offices owe the City of Harare more than 11 million dollars in unpaid rates.
To then have a Minister of Finance who collects tax payer’s money and directs it to ill-conceived priorities and then ask the tax payers to fund themselves out of a disaster is an insult of the highest order. An attempt to donate by people who are guilty of habitual dereliction of duty is also an insult to the intelligence of the people of Zimbabwe.
We find the state’s habit of creating a turf war between the Ministry of Local Government and the local authorities to be suspicious. A responsible government must never issue central directives with no prior conversations with stakeholders in lower tiers of government.
We therefore suggest that the following be done:
It must be accepted that the water and sanitation crisis in Zimbabwe is the sole source of diseases like typhoid and cholera.
We offer holistic solutions to the water crisis in Harare in the SMART policy document.
We make the point that failure to act on these and other issues now will result in infinite outbreaks, loss of life and unpalatable suffering of the Zimbabwean people.
Jacob Mafume
MDC National Spokesperson
(368 VIEWS)
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