The Sunday News
THE recent commissioning by President Mnangagwa of Chombwe piped water scheme in Chivi – one of the seven districts in the sprawling Masvingo Province and probably one of the most arid is a strong statement of political will and commitment towards the concept of devolution.
The New Dispensation has been pushing for the implementation of devolution with economic blueprints that are bold and unambiguous backed by funds that have been disbursed by the State to districts. Commissioning the scheme, the President said such projects resonate with the concept of devolution and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The completion of this project resonates with the global aspiration under the Sustainable Development Goals framework, in particular goal number six that exhorts countries and agencies of Government at all levels, to access, availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” he said.
“The completion and launch of this scheme is yet another testimony of my Government’s ongoing modernisation and development of all parts of our country through the implementation of the devolution policy. This project also complements the thrust of the Second Republic which entails that RDCs must provide their communities with quality service delivery,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said the supply of tapped water at rural health centres must improve the quality of health service especially antenatal and post-natal health care adding that women and youths must take the opportunity of easier access to water to set up empowerment projects such as sustainable horticulture.
It is our hope that those wise words fell on open and listening ears and the President’s counsel and aspirations for development is not going to impact Chivi only but will serve as a wake up call to all local authorities to start implementing devolution projects.
The concept of devolution has been lauded as the best development strategy that ensures equitable distribution of the national cake without hushed murmurs of dissatisfaction from some provinces that felt marginalised.
The entry point for devolution is to empower provinces to drive local and national economic growth and development using their own factor endowments.
The economic blueprints under the Second Republic notes that devolution represents a new governance dispensation where decentralisation becomes a key feature and strategy for fair and just distribution of national resources where fulfilment of decentralisation is going to be across the four dimensions, namely administrative, political, fiscal and market.
The import of all this is enshrined in the Constitution that provides for giving powers of local governance to the people, enhancing their participation in making decisions on issues that affect them, and in the exercise of the powers of the State.
This has found expression and affirmation in the President’s recent commissioning of the devolution project where he emphasised the Government’s commitment in implementing devolution in the running of national affairs as a strategy to revitalise the economy and improve the people’s standards of living.
We therefore agree with the President that this concept should be used for economic advancement and as a vehicle to propel development. It must improve the quality of life of all our people in every corner of the country as we strive to become a middle-income economy by 2030.
Communities should therefore take this programme of devolved economic development as specifically for them as they would be given the power to control the resources that they own — a concept of bringing down development priority to the local communities so that they own development.
In this regard, decision making and authority in the provision of most basic services will be delegated and decentralised to provincial and district levels. This will bring Government closer to communities, and make it more accessible, that way enhancing responsive, accountable and participatory governance over local development agendas.
Devolution is going to make provinces benefit from relative autonomy on their localised need-based priorities as opposed to centralised and opaque planning and distribution of resources. It is going to push for the completion of so many projects since each province would get its own budget and decide which projects to give priority to.
The objective of this is to make every province and local authority attractive for both local and foreign investment by ensuring ease of doing business and also lowering the costs of establishing business.
