Kadoma Central MP Muchineripi Chinyanganya became the first guest in a six-part series on devolution by Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube on the online talk show In Conversation with Trevor.
Chinyanganya (MC), a former Kadoma mayor, told Ncube (TN) in the wide-ranging interview that delays in enacting legislation to ensure devolution of power was a cause for concern.
He spoke about how his experience as a councillor and mayor helped him understand the need for devolution of power.
TN: This week we launch the devolution series. The 2013 Zimbabwe Constitution introduced the devolution concept in order to increase popular participation in decision-making.
Our first guest in the devolution series is the former Kadoma mayor and the current Kadoma Central constituency Member of Parliament, Muchineripi Chinyanganya.
This is the first of six episodes where we are going to be discussing the concept of devolution.
The constitution of 2013 made a provision that devolution becomes a provision for our country.
I’m excited by your experience, starting off as deputy mayor for Kadoma and became mayor, now you are in Parliament.
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You have started from the bottom in terms of devolution.
You know the frustrations that people in the lower level of local governance are facing.
Talk to me now, about what that experience has given you in terms of looking at devolution.
MC: To begin with, being in council exposes one to the needs that the people require each and every day of their lives.
This is very important when we look at devolution because we are looking at the powers that the central government has being cascaded to the provinces and to the local authorities.
My experience in council has given me great exposure in terms of what the people at the local level require and expect the central government to do.
At the local level, people expect constant supply of potable water, their garbage to be collected once per week. They expect to see their environment clean, no raw sewage flowing in their homes.
They expect to see their suburbs lit, public lighting, their roads accessible, being repaired from time to time; decent accommodation, stands and complete homes.
The local people also expect to see different forms of empowerment, be it the industries being opened and also those who cannot afford to be employed in industries having somewhere where they can work. Basically, these are the expectations of people at a local level.
TN: Those expectations are social, economic and political. They cut across the entire aspects of the community, am I right?
MC: Yes, that’s true.
TN: Given that now you are in Parliament and you are looking at Kadoma from a higher position, what is going to be the likely impact of devolution, for instance, for people in Kadoma with those kinds of challenges you are talking about?
MC: Devolution will be a game-changer because we are looking at the budget being made at the local and provincial levels and resources being channelled to the provinces and local authorities unlike the situation whereby the central government would make the budget and local authorities having to come up with their own means to sustain those services and failing to meet the demands of the local people.
Devolution will help in a long way in augmenting the local authorities’ coffers because big amounts of money are now being channelled to local authorities; in the form of devolution funds.
TN: There is tension, it could be a healthy tension, between people on the ground and central government. Are you concerned about that tension?
MC: The tension will always be there in a positive way, it’s going to be helpful.
Of course, there are some in central government that are reluctant to implement devolution, for the sole purpose of not wanting the provinces and the local authorities to get money to implement devolution because in the past they are the ones that were calling the shots.
Losing power is painful.
TN: How are you going to negotiate that? You are taking power from central government to the people in the grassroots; there is going to be resentment to that.
You are taking away resources from central government. How are you going to smoothen that?
MC: The people spoke in 2013 during the constitution-making process and that’s why devolution was factored into the constitution in section 264.
There can be delays, but then it will certainly happen like already the government has started distributing devolution funds to the provinces and to the local authorities though it is illegal because there is no enabling Act in place.
But the people at the grassroots do not care about it.
What they want to see is development, but government should just do the right thing and come up with the Provincial and Metropolitan Councils Act and also should amend the Rural Councils Act and the Urban Councils Act so that the right things are done.
TN: So at the moment those amendments have not yet been effected, am I right?
MC: I sit in (Parliament’s) local government portfolio committee. We are yet to see those Bills.
What I know is the Urban Councils Act has been amended because we went through the process when I was mayor.
I don’t know what’s stopping the ministry from bringing the Bill to Parliament.
The Provincial Councils and Metropolitan Councils Act, there is no talk of that at the moment, but that will be the most critical legislation to kick-start the devolution process.
TN: From what you are saying, that piece of legislation, that kind of amendment has not been put in place.
What’s your timeline in terms of what needs to be done so that the allocations you are talking about stop being illegal but are seen to be widespread across the country?
MC: I think that it is the loophole that was made during the constitution-making process.
If you compare the Zimbabwean constitution to the Kenyan constitution, when the Kenyan constitution was done and devolution was introduced, there was a timeline that was given.
It stated specifically that the devolution process should be done in six months, but the Zimbabwean constitution is silent on that and it actually states that, “whenever appropriate governmental powers and responsibilities must be devolved to provincial and metropolitan councils”.
The key words here are, “whenever appropriate”, which can never be.
It can happen after 50 years or a century, so it’s up to us the parliamentarians to really push the central government to really implement devolution.
TN: Is there appetite in Parliament for devolution to be fully effective?
MC: We have been trying to push for it in our committee and I think for now that’s why the government has started distributing devolution funds even though there is no enabling legislation to that effect.
But I’m sure another setback to this process is Constitutional Amendment Number 2, which proposed that members of the National Assembly and senators should not sit in the provincial councils.
I think they are waiting for these amendments to be read in Parliament so that when this Provincial Councils Act is enacted it will not be amended after this has come through.
I think it’s going to be delayed again .
TN: So you raised the issue of Constitutional Amendment Number 2, which seeks to make necessary changes for devolution to take place. Where are we as far as that amendment is concerned and again is there any appetite in Parliament to ensure that there is a speedy passage of that amendment?
MC: Yes, it was at the debate stage.
I sat in the justice and parliamentary affairs committee and we did the consultations, then the committee report was tabled in Parliament and MPs were debating before the adjournment.
So I think when we resume Parliament, the debate is going to continue and soon it will be tabled in Senate.
TN: You are saying, Muchi, that the MPs are divided and this is because it threatens their power, isn’t it?
MC: Yes, but the bottom line is not about resources, about MPs benefiting. It’s about them being left out in the decision-making process in the provinces where they come from.
The proponents of the continuation with the constitutional provision are basically on them being left out in the planning processes in the areas where they come from.
