Fredrick Moyo
Acting Chiredzi Town Secretary Engineer Wesley Kauma said the newly introduced Programme Based Budgeting will go a long way in ensuring accountability and transparency in council operations.
Eng Kauma said the remarkable shift from outdated Zero budgeting to the new Programme Based Budgeting is the new policy introduced by government that seeks to ensure accountability in running affairs of local authorities.
“The Programme Based Budgeting is the new policy introduced by government of late moving forward in running council affairs. We used to operate following the traditional Zero-based budgeting, but now government policy has changed resulting in the introduction of this new programme-based budgeting system.
“The main thrust behind the new system being that programmes are assigned to relevant departments targeting specific individuals who assume responsibility and duties directly. So you are going to realise that the system ensures answerability to the very individuals assigned.
“So when we do our budgets, we are compelled to come up with a five-year strategic plan first that will be aligned to the National Development Strategies 1(NDS1) and for those five years, we will have to break down the plans based on annual basis that the budget will support and that is when the issue of programme-based budgeting gets in,” said Eng Kauma.
He also highlighted that as council they were given a template that outlines programmes to be followed by the council authorities that are further divided into sub-programmes.
“The structure template we got from government has six programmes which would further be divided into sub programmes. As the accounting officer, I would prepare a performance contract and for this year we would attend a signing ceremony for the programmes.
“At the end of the year there would be reviews and evaluations to gauge whether we as local authorities have achieved what we set as targets. The reviews will also focus on assessing how much are we contributing to the NDS1 that will feed to the national vision set for 2030. Thus programme based budget is more like an appraisal which would help in reflecting areas of weakness on part of council and how government can chip in and assist,” he added.
Eng Kauma also took the opportunity to appreciate the role and commitment shown by council employees towards the achievement of ‘The Chiredzi we want’ and subsequently attaining Municipality status.
“Three months ago we had five months’ salary arrears for our council employees but as we speak we are almost approaching current salaries. Then we are also saying as council, when we took over, we had no equipment the reason why you see that our operations are mainly based on human- capital as we have no equipment like graders and thus all our works depended on manual labour (human capital), so our employees have been very supportive, the reason why progress is noticeable.
“The sewer upgrades we are undertaking are being done manually by our workers and so are other projects,” said Eng Kauma.
The Town secretary also said they have already applied to the parent ministry of local government for the granting of municipality status.
“As I have said, as part of our strategic plan, our vision is towards the attainment of municipality status. As an authority we have already applied to the ministry for granting of the status. So there is a template that we were given which we need to follow and follow its requirements.
“We have already started doing what is required of us in the template that includes having a fire station for Chiredzi municipality. Already we have acquired a fire centre and the equipment is being manufactured in China and as soon as the equipment is delivered, we will start working on it. In our budget we have already budgeted for the section.
“Some of the requirements we will work on them as we go on like having updated accounts. As it is we have had two audit cycles as a catch-up programme that is for 2019 and 2020 so that we can move over to 2021 before the expiration of the mandatory 120 days and only then will we be up to date,” he said.
However, Eng Kauma said council is contemplating revoking leases of their two beer halls namely Chigarapasi and Komanani as the revenue generated is way below expectations as compared to that likely to be generated if council operates them.
“We have two beer halls; Chigarapasi and Komanani that we are leasing but the rentals are just too low, hence as council we are realising nothing meaningful. As a result, we are contemplating taking over the facilities,” said Eng Kauma.
