.Chenda

By CHUSA SICHONE? –

LOCAL Government and Housing Minister Emmanuel Chenda has urged councils countrywide to adopt the E-Governance system as a measure to curb corruption and mismanagement of public resources.
Mr Chenda said this during the launch of the Direct Debit and Credit Clearing (DDACC) between Zanaco Bank and the Lusaka City Council (LCC) in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Chenda in a speech read for him by his deputy Nicholas Banda said a lot of residents were looking forward to seeing corruption-free councils and that the only way it could be achieved was by using e-commerce and e-governance systems in the management of public resources.
“I would like once again to encourage all councils around the country to put in stringent measures in their financial systems through the use of e-governance systems as one way of curbing corruption and mismanagement of public resources,” he said.
Mr Chenda said the DDACC technology in business transaction helped in the reduction of human contact with cash, increased accountability and transparency.
Mr Chenda said the DDACC system if properly managed would definitely save clients’ time and money of queuing up to pay for a service which could easily be done by a click of a button.
“As Government, these are some of the initiatives we want to see to see at all levels of governance.Even as we celebrate our 50th anniversary as a country, we also need to change our mindset and embrace progressive initiatives which will help the council to collect revenue,” he said.
Lusaka Mayor Mulenga Sata said the DDACC partnership would help the LCC improve efficiency in collecting revenue and save customers’ time and that the innovation was timely as it had come when the council was looking at ways of enhancing its revenue collection.
Mr Sata was hopeful that the system would not be restricted to collection of rates only but encompass the collection of other fees owed to the LCC.
“I would like to call upon management to further explore ways of collecting revenue and to ensure that tight security measures are put in place to avoid the theft of public funds. We as an institution need funds to provide the service delivery that we are charged with.
“Therefore, every Kwacha and Ngwee that is collected will help to provide this service. I wish to seriously advise management to cast the net wide and avoid the traditional way of depending on income only from property rates,” he said.
Zanaco managing director Bruce Dick reiterated the bank’s desire to provide innovative services that benefit customers and non-customers, adding that the only requirement for non Zanaco customers was that they needed to have accounts with banks which were members of the Zambia Electronic Clearing House.
He said the DDACC service was about the provision, collection and payment of LCC rates and their customers who might be Zanaco customers.