Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Civil Society Organization Decentralization Alliance Network (CSO-DAN) has proposed an upward adjustment to the local government equalization fund to enable councils balance their budget deficits.
CSO-DAN interim national coordinator George Chimembe agrees that there is a problem of historical debt stock in the local authorities hence some of them failing to meet their salary obligations.
Mr. Chimembe tells q news that failure to address the challenge of historical debt stock by both central and local governments will make the decentralization agenda fail.
He states that the current transfer of staff and reshuffles being undertake in the local authorities may not be the most sustainable option as councils need sufficient recapitalization through enhanced fiscal decentralization and dismantling of the debt stock if they are to effectively execute their devolved functions.
Mr. Chimembe has since urged the dawn government to also consider revising the local authority debt management strategy which was approved by the PF government in 2020.