Melinda Kusemachibi
The delayed disbursement of devolution funds from central government to local authorities where they are to be used for various developmental projects has been cited as one reason behind hanging and incomplete projects.
Some sections of society have argued that the delays in disbursement that has led to projects being carried over to the next year which has its own budget will create room for abuse and misappropriation of funds and thus abuse on part of implementers.
A handful of local authorities expressed concern over the delays that they say sometimes affect progress and the pace at which they implement developmental projects.
Speaking to TellZim News Mwenezi Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Albert Chivanga said they are heavily affected by delays by government in disbursement of devolution funds.
“We are heavily affected by the delays by government in disbursement of devolution funds as it will affect the timeframe we would intend to finish our projects. This will affect our service delivery and residents will blame us for it,” he said.
Chivanga called on government to ensure they disburse the funds on time.
“It is far too late and it’s too little. We received ZW$ 9 million only and we are in mid-year and it is too little for us to finish our projects. This will make us delay in finishing and the money will lose its value because of inflation as well,” said Chivanga.
Acting Chiredzi Town Secretary Engineer Wesley Kauma also said that they are yet to receive their devolution funds.
“Currently, we are yet to receive the devolution fund money for Chiredzi Town. ZW$ 292 million was allocated in the budget but we have not yet received it and we are in May. l do not know how on earth we are going to finish our projects. This money should be given in January so that we will do our projects on time,” said Engineer Kauma.
Zaka RDC CEO David Majaura said that they only received ZW$ 9 million and they do not know if they will receive more.
“We only received ZW$ 9 million for this year and we do not know if we are going to receive more or not,” said Majaura.
However, Bikita RDC CEO Peter Chibhi could not shed more light on the delayed disbursement of devolution funds.
“I cannot comment on the delayed disbursement of devolution funds but we received ZW$ 12 million out of ZW$ 429 million,” said Chibhi.
On the delay to finish the projects on time, Chibhi said it depends with the amount which they would have received.
“It depends on whether we will get the full disbursement or not,” he said.
Masvingo Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Jefter Sakupwanya said there are mechanisms in place to account for funds and monitor how projects are running but some projects are not funded by devolution funds.
“There are mechanisms in place to account for the funds. It is the duty of councilors and District Development Coordinators (DDCs) to do follow ups so as to maintain efficiency and transparency,” said Dr Sakupwanya.
Disbursements are done in terms of Section 301 of the Constitution, which regulates the allocation of resources between Central Government and local authorities.
Last year, Government disbursed $657 million out of the $703 million that had been budgeted under devolution.
Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Manicaland chairperson Proper Mutseyami recently accused Local government minister July Moyo of abusing devolution funds during a constituency indaba recently convened by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) in Mutare when he said Moyo was deliberately delaying the disbursement of the funds to local authorities so that he can keep embezzling the money.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government chairperson Miriam Chikukwa (Zanu PF) made the call in Parliament saying the late disbursements affected planning and utilization of the funds in the face of inflation as she urged Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to timeously release devolution funds to local authorities.
Government has a budget for devolution in line with section 301 of the Constitution.
Over the past three years, government has disbursed ZWL$2.2 billion to local councils as devolution funds.
Large sums of money have been disbursed country-wide by government since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over in 2017 but that was done without legal monitoring or evaluation structures in place leaving enough room to possible abuse and misappropriation.
