By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –

MEMBERS of Parliament (MPs) yesterday rejected calls to abolish the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) but recommended that its roles be a reviewed.
United Party for National Development (UPND) Bwengwa MP Highvie Hamududu said this in Parliament in a speech to adopt the report on the committee on estimates that studied the implementation of fiscal decentralisation, performance based management in the public service and the integrated financial management system (IFIMS) in Zambia.
He said the committee had noticed that the LGSC had been employing people who lacked the right requirements and skills to run the councils.
He said this raised concern about the credibility of the selection process and the role of the LGSC and that the committee was concerned about the general laissez-faire attitude towards work by officers recruited by the commission.
He said the decentralisation policy had taken long, attributing this to lack of political will and untrained skills in the local Government.
He said most of the councils were heavily indebted through non remittance of statutory obligations.
Patriotic Front (PF) Chongwe MP Syliva Masebo in contributing to the debate said dissolving the commission as called for by some sections of society was not right but instead needed solutions to address bottlenecks hampering it from operaing effectively.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Guy Scott has blamed local authorities in the country for increased illegal land allocation and has called for an immediate stop to the vice.
Dr Scott said Government was not happy with the habit by councils to allow irregularities, corruption and planning deficiencies that lead to people occupying large amounts of land illegally.
He said this during the Vice-President’s question time that illegal settlements were historical but that they should not be allowed to continue.
“I think this needs proper investigation and proper policies to sort out these distortions. I think there are councillors involved and commercial interests involved, but this should not be allowed,” Dr Scott said.
He said this in response to a question raised by Patriotic Front (PF) Bwacha Member of Parliament (MP) Sydney Mushanga who wanted to know what Government was doing to alleviate the suffering of the people of Mindolo North in Kitwe, whose houses were demolished by the Kitwe City Council three weeks ago.
Dr Scott told the House that the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) and Zesco had finished the electrification of the area where 120 tents had been erected for the Mindolo people who had no alternative accommodation.
He said there was water flowing at the camp and that the DMMU was doing everything possible to make people live in a humane way.
Dr Scott was surprised that Government rejected the offer by Kasama PF MP Geoffrey Mwamba to build a bus station in Kasama.
Dr Scott said this when Mr Mwamba said the people of Kasama wanted to know why the then Minister of Local Government and Housing Emerine Kabanshi  rejected a  K100, 000 to put up a bus station.
“I will consult to ensure that facts presented are as they are. I am surprised that we turned down such a generous offer,” Dr Scot said.