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Residents call on Minister Chombo to be impartial
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
June 08, 2010

The Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) and the generality of the Harare residents call on the Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo to be impartial in his dealings with the City of Harare instead of being selective in his interventions. This call comes after the Minister reversed a resolution by the City of Harare to award Councilors and senior Council Officials lucrative perks for their participation in meetings and workshops.

The resolution saw Councilors getting a whopping $800 in allowances for attending international events while the Mayor would get $1200. While CHRA appreciates the Minister's decision to reverse the Council's resolution, which in essence was reflective of the City of Harare's inability to prioritize issues, there are other issues in which Minister Chombo's response (or lack thereof) has left a lot to be desired.

Residents have raised an outcry over the hefty salaries that are being awarded to the City's Directors but the Minister has remained mum as if the issue is of no importance. The City's Departmental Directors are said to be earning between US$10 000 and $15 000. The Minister has neither commented nor sought to facilitate investigations into this issue in spite of the fact that it has become a bone of contention between residents and the City of Harare. Moreover, the City of Harare is always crying foul about its bankruptcy and yet they pay their employees as if there is more than enough in the Council coffers. The Minister should make a move to stop such extravagance by the technocrats at Town House just as he has done on the Councilors' allowances.

Furthermore, the Minister has been the subject of the print and electronic media after he issued a directive to the Harare Mayor stopping Harare City councilors from conducting a human resource audit. The issue of the human resource audit was first raised in 2008 but the Minister did not even raise a finger to make sure the audit was done. Harare City council like many other municipalities has been staggering with a huge employee database, marred with ghost workers who have either left Council or are deceased. Some are simply not qualified for the posts allocated to them as they were appointed on political grounds. As a result, the City of Harare has been remunerating names instead of real workers who are delivering on the ground; a situation that is seriously depleting Council financial resources. It is in the wake of Chombo's discomfiture, that the public becomes skeptical, because conducting a human resource audit would be done in the utmost interest of the residents of Harare. Confining the Human resource audit to the executive arm of Council, would be tantamount to assigning a rat to guard a barn. Residents are quite aware of the fact that most of the senior staff in Council, are somehow linked to the recruitment process and to allow them to be part of the audit will greatly compromise the independence of the audit.

CHRA would like to urge Minister Chombo to use his executive powers (which we feel are being misdirected) to make an introspection into the mega salaries that are being paid to senior council officials, respond to the issues raised in the land audit report which critically implicated him and his filthy rich collaborator Phillip Chiyangwa and to stop Harare City Council from disconnecting water from our poor households. CHRA is committed to advocating for good, transparent and accountable local governance as well as lobbying for quality municipal services on a non partisan basis.

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