Treasury Can’t Support 235 Constituencies – Mitaba
THE Zambia Council for Social Development has cautioned government against rushing to increase the number of constituencies because this will have huge cost on the treasury.
Executive director Leah Mitaba said a small economy like Zambia’s, which is growing at less than three per cent annually, cannot support 235 constituencies that the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has proposed.
“We do not entirely agree with ECZ chief electoral officer, Patrick Nshindano’s views that creating more constituencies will enhance service because this can be realised through the decentralization of government.
Decentralisation remains the most effective way of ensuring that resources reach directly to the people in an effort to reduce poverty and inequalities,” she said.
Mitaba said the government should prioritise devolving both human and financial resources as espoused in the National Decentralisation Policy instead of rushing to add more constituencies.
She said the cost of creating more constituencies should concern every Zambian because the value of having more constituencies was not guaranteed.
Mitaba said there were many constituencies in the country that were still lagging behind in development not because they were geographically vast but because of lack of prioritisation of development by the elected members of parliament.
“Instead of worrying about the long distances that people are travelling to cast their votes, we should worry more about the long distances girls and boys are covering to reach schools. The long distances that women are made to endure before accessing health and water facilities,” she said.
Mitaba urged the ECZ to convene stakeholder meetings with civil society organisations (CSOs) to explain the cost implications of creating 235 constituencies.
She said such meetings would also enable CSOs to offer suggestions on better ways of implementing the programme.
“As ZCSD, our view is that the creation of 235 constituencies should be a long-term programme that should take this country not less than 15 years to attain, depending on the size and growth of our economy,” said Mitaba
Source: The Mast