By COREEN CHOOYE MVULA –
At its second meeting of 2013, Cabinet passed a resolution to approve the National Decentralisation Policy (NDP) which had earlier been revised and launched by  late Republican  president  Michael Sata on July 16, 2013.
Following the approval and launch of the policy, Government further issued Cabinet office circular No. 10 of 2014 effecting devolution of selected functions from central Government to councils. This entails, therefore, that devolution had taken effect.
Given this clear road map  and the political will about decentralisation reforms, the Government, on January 1, 2015, devolved selected functions from various sector ministries to councils in order to provide for citizens’ participation in development and to improve service delivery.
Devolution has happened and will be based on a sector-wide phased approach over a period of three years (2015-2017).
To crown it all, decentralisation (and devolution) in particular has been strengthened by the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2016, which has ushered into being a decentralised system of governance by devolution.
The beauty about the amended Constitution is that it has defined the broad perimeters within which to formulate laws and policies that will deal with specific legal issues relating decentralisation.
This has provided the necessary legitimacy to finance and implement the process which now remains non-reversible .
The approval of the revised NDP and the commencement of the devolution process  demonstrates the commitment by the Government to bring governance closer to the electorate by decentralising some of its functions.
In this process, Government, through Cabinet office (decentralisation secretariat) shall provide leadership and direction to the facilitating, devolving and receiving institutions on the implementation of the policy.
It is very important for the public to note that the functions mentioned in the circular and devolved to councils are no longer central Government functions, but are still being handled by parent ministries on a transitional basis.
To support the devolution process, new council organisation structures have been installed to accommodate functions and staff who have been devolved to and are currently working in councils.
It is also important to note that decentralisation doesn’t necessarily mean that all functions will be devolved to councils.
Some core functions such as passport and citizen’s control, secondary and higher education, general hospitals, airstrips and airports control, etcetera have remained under the jurisdiction of the central Government.
PHASE I
Functions in five ministries and two institutions have been devolved in 2015 as follows:
Disaster and risk reduction management under the Office of the Vice President;
Extension services under the ministry of Agriculture and Livestock; primary and early education as well as adult literacy under the ministry of General Education;
Primary health care, social welfare and community development under the ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health; Local tourism and cultural matters under the ministry of Tourism and Arts; Urban and regional planning under the ministry of Local Government and Housing; and community management of HIV/AIDS and TB programmes under the National HIV/AIDS/TB/STI Council.
PHASE II
Functions in four ministries have been devolved in 2016, as follows: Infrastructure development and management under the ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications;
Land allocation and utilisation together with management and conservation of natural resources under the ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection;
Cultural affairs under the ministry of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs; and business development services, operationalisation of standards and quality assurance, consumer protection and welfare under the ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry;
PHASE III
Functions in four (4) ministries will be devolved in 2017, as follows:
Sports development, community sport and youth development under the ministry of Youth and Sport;
Child development under the ministry of Gender and Child Development; Water resource management under the ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development;
Community police and community prisons under the ministry of Home Affairs;
In the 2016 Budget, funds for devolved functions will remain with parent ministries while a new fiscal architecture will be put in place to facilitate the transfer of such finances to councils, which remain the focus of development.
In this process, all employees in sector ministries who have been transferred to councils will continue receiving their salaries through the central Government payroll.
Given the complexity of devolution as a reform programme, the functions earmarked for devolution shall be transferred gradually over a three year period starting January 2015.
To create political balance and fairness, Government devolved functions to all councils (including the newly created) and that all the functions earmarked for devolution are expected to be implemented in councils and the process completed in 2017.
Having appreciated the functions that have been devolved, the next issue shall examine the key milestones attained in the decentralisation reforms.
The Author is Coreen Chooye-Mvula Assistant Director (Communications) Decentralisation Secretariat Cabinet Office Tel: 0211-226787