LOCAL Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere has banned
town clerks in various cities and towns from attending workshops outside their
jurisdiction as government moves in to stop the plunder of public resources by
council bosses.
Kasukuwere announced the directive after it emerged that
town clerks were using workshops and seminars to siphon council funds through
allowances.
“In fact, let this be a directive, Cde PS (permanent
secretary), write to all town clerks that no one is allowed to leave their
stations more than twice a month for whatever workshop or capacity building. It
is very bad. They are taking money through travelling and subsistence (T&S)
allowances,” Kasukuwere said.
“We have a case of Chitungwiza where an individual got $130
000 in T&S for the whole year, which simply means that monthly they have
been collecting close to $12 000 from travelling. This is unacceptable. We must
stop this rot.”
Residents have complained of unabated travelling by senior
officials and the huge amounts they have been draining from the public funds
that were way above the level of service delivery.
Kasukuwere said if it occurs that a town clerk has been
invited more than twice within a month to any workshop, a director within the
local authority must attend on behalf of the town clerk.
“On foreign trips, we must restrict those to at least one
in three months. What we have witnessed is a trend where town clerks spend most
of the time attending workshops. You hear, this week they are in Kadoma,
tomorrow they are in Kariba, the day after in Bulawayo, busy travelling and
taking huge T&S, it must come to an end,” Kasukuwere said. newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment