EU spends K304m to promote democratic governance, decentralisation in Samfya

The European Union is constructing 22 offices at a cost of K304 million in Samfya district to be used by area development committees to promote democratic governance and decentralisation. Local people are delighted because they believe the facility, which will also have an information centre, will help to increase their civic awareness and encourage their participation in community affairs and political processes of the country

By Innocent Daka

ON February 20 this year, the members of the Chiti-baluba  development committee zone had just settled for yet another meeting when a fisherman walked up, pulled an extra log to sit on and introduced himself as Frederick Nsofwa.

“I have a question,” Nsofwa said, “I believe this committee is about good governance, rule of law and human rights.”

Apparently, Mr Nsofwa’s son was arrested and convicted for possession of fish during the ban. Mr Nsofwa was not satisfied with the judgement of the magistrate court and turned to the area development committee members to register his grievance.

“Tell me, is it respect of human rights for a court to fine my son K700, 000.00, which he paid, and at the same time send him to jail for three months? Over 2kgs of fish, tell me!”

The area development committee members did not have an answer to immediately satisfy Mr Nsofwa, but one of the committee members, Rtd Captain Stanslous Chota, promised to walk 15 kilometres to the Department of Fisheries offices to consult and look at what the fisheries Act says concerning offences related to the fish ban.

In Samfya district, members of the area development committees meet anywhere convenient. Like in Chiti-baluba area of Mano Ward, the members of the zone development committee meet under an old-grown Mango tree and use awkward wood logs for seats while conducting meetings.

There is nothing remarkable about this place, but one thing is inspiring—the members of the development committee that meet here have been volunteering to raise awareness on democratic governance and decentralisation.

The committee is mobilising communities around issues of good governance, including equal participation in development, human rights, rule of law and accountability. And it is for this reason that the committee is attracting people who seek answers to situations that seem to put their interests at stake.

While area development committees have continued to conduct meetings under mango trees and other awkward places, the good news is that in July this year this will no longer be the case.

This is because just next to the mango tree, workers are perched up the brick walls nailing together timber terraces in readiness to fix the roof on a new building.

This is because just next to the mango tree, workers are perched up the brick walls nailing together timber terraces in readiness to fix the roof on a new building.

The new building will house an office for the area development committee, a conference hall for democracy meetings as well as an information centre.

Here and across three other wards in Samfya, the local authority is constructing similar buildings, four are almost complete. Samfya District Council (SDC) is building the structures following the financial assistance from the European Union (EU).

“The European Union is spending K304 million to build offices in 22 wards between now and 2013,” said Mr Anthony Mwenya, Samfya district council planning officer.

According to Mr Mwenya, the information centre will stock education and information materials on good governance, rule of law and human rights. Maybe it will be of interest that the local community will need copies of the fisheries Act, Mano being a dominantly fishing area. Then it will also be needless for captain Chota to walk 15 kilometres to seek answers to questions similar to those raised by Mr Nsofwa.

The idea of setting up offices, says Mr Mwenya, “is meant to enhance and strengthen the presence of the sub-district structures in their activities. They will have decent shelter where they can meet and also stock information materials on good governance that community members can access”.

He said under the EU support, the area development committee members have been attending workshops aimed at empowering them with knowledge about good governance, rule of law and accountability, “in turn the members are reaching out to communities creating awareness through meetings.

Headman Malemba Andrew Kabanda is happy with the construction of the office. He says the information materials that will be stocked in the information centre will help the community in many ways.

“This will be a centre of sharing information ideas that will help us to understand government better and also find solutions to the many development challenges we face. We are also going to learn about human rights that we are not aware of,” said Headman Malemba.

Robin Nkaka, the chairperson of Chiti-baluba Zone in Mano, said the construction shows that there is commitment from Government and its cooperating partners to increase people’s knowledge and participation in governance and development.

Nkaka also believes that the construction of an office for the development committee is an assurance that decentralisation is coming. “The people have always doubted the work of the committee and doubted whether decentralisation will ever be implemented. This office is testimony that decentralisation is under way.”

Rtd Captain Chota, who is the vice chairman of Chiti-baluba zone development committee, said next to poverty, ignorance on issues of good governance is a major problem among the people of Mano area.

He said he has hope that as freedom of the information is now being given emphasis under the PF government, a facility like an information centre will provide alternative sources of information on good governance that will help to address the problem of ignorance.

Samfya district council has been organising area development committees since 2007, when MS-Zambia sourced assistance from DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency) on behalf of the council.

This was in response to the national decentralisation policy of 2002 that proposed the establishment of sub-district structures. The structures were intended to serve the purpose of promoting and coordinating sub-district development, as well as provide platforms for community participation in the local processes for poverty reduction in the community.

At the end of MS-Zambia assistance in 2008, the council had set up 22 development committees, including four that now come under the newly established Lunga district.

The sub-structures start with village development committees that are found in each village. These elect leaders who form zone committees. Each zone sends two members to form the area development committees at ward level and the area councillor is an ex-officio to this committee.

Mr Mwenya says after MS-Zambia phased-out support, the Ministry of Local Government advised councils about the European Union calling for proposals to support local authorities on democracy and good governance in view of decentralisation.

“Fortunately, Samfya district council was among the three local authorities that had the proposals approved. The other two district councils benefiting are Chipata in the Eastern Province and Choma in the Southern Province,” he adds.

He said the four-year EU good governance project has a budget of 407,888.00 euros, equivalent to K 2,834,642,129.28, 85 percent of the funds being from EU while 15 percent is from the local authority.

Mr Mwenya describes the support by EU as good timing because the project comes to an end in 2013, the same time that government has indicated it will step in to start implementing the decentralisation programme in the country.

He notes that although the area development committees may change their name to what will be preferable to suit the ward boundaries, the advantage of Samfya is that the local communities would already be aware of the process and would be well enlightened about various issues of governance and what will be expected of them in the new governance system of decentralisation.

The government of Zambia is pursuing decentralisation with a view to realising the participation of the local people in the political and development processes.

Experts have noted that any attempt to consolidate this participation needs to be preceded by basic level of understanding of citizens rights and responsibilities as well as the way good governance institutions operate.

They warn that without basic awareness through civic education, it would be difficult for individuals to express their preferences and participate meaningfully in the democratic process.

Therefore, empowering local level structures like the area development committees with basic knowledge on democracy forms important bedrock that will support more other things that remain to be done to make these sub-district structures legally functional once the decentralised government system takes effect in 2013.