There are four reasons why. Firstly, one cannot judge the future potential of local authorities on the basis of their present performance. One cannot expect these authorities to operate effectively in the present economic and political climate, in which resources are scarce and the whole local government system is highly politicised.
Secondly, the decentralisation of powers to local level does not mean that central government has to abrogate its responsibility for monitoring the local level bodies and holding them to account.
A good system includes checks and balances to ensure that local authorities are held accountable both by their electorates and by the central government. Thirdly, any devolution of powers to local level should be accompanied by a planned programme of capacity development, in order to ensure that they have the technical and managerial capacity to perform their additional functions effectively. Such capacity building programmes are not new in Zimbabwe.
Following the amalgamation of rural and district councils in 1988, a major capacity building programme was launched. There was also a programme to enhance the capacity of urban local authorities and, albeit on a smaller scale, efforts in various parts of the country to increase local citizens’ awareness of their rights and responsibilities in holding local governments to account. However, these various initiatives, like so many others, came to an abrupt halt in the early 2000s, owing to the deterioration in economic and political conditions and related withdrawal of donor support.
Finally, when considering whether or not to decentralise powers to local governments, one must also consider the capacity of central government. Is the present central government any more efficient, effective and accountable than the local authorities?
I suspect not. In fact, the central government must share in the blame for local governments’ poor performance because, as Shingai Ndoro points out, it is not fulfilling its role of supporting local authorities and monitoring their performance.
In my view, there are many good arguments in favour of further devolution to local government councils (urban and rural), provided that it is done properly and in a reasonably favourable economic and political climate. In fact, I would argue that this may be a better way forward than devolution to a new tier of provincial governments, where the needs for capacity development will be even greater. – Diana Conyers, UK
Post published in: Letters to the Editor