STAFF WRITER
NYANGA – Mutare City Council has created a budget committee that will monitor the fiscal position of the city.
The Mutare City Council will soon start budget consultations in a bid to solicit residents’ inputs and budget priorities for the year 2022.
Last weekend the local authority held a two-day stakeholders consultative meeting in an attempt to map out engagement strategies for the 2022 budget consultations.
The budget committee comprises of representatives from wards, business community, and small to medium entrepreneurs, industries, people with disabilities, and pastoral fraternity and residents associations among others.
In an interview on the sidelines of the meeting, Mutare Mayor Blessing Tandi said Mutare City Council had come up with the idea of budget committee that will include residents’ representatives and various sectors within the city.
“The mandate of the budget committee is to drive the budgeting process. The committee has specific number from drawn from diverse representatives. Let’s give maximum support to the committee remember it is the first time that we have come up with this budget committee,” said Tandi.
Tandi said the committee will improve transparency and accountability resulting in less friction between council and residents.
“This will promote public transparency and accountability, as council we should open up. It is for us to bring ourselves together service providers and the beneficiaries of the service. So that we are able to map up a way forward,” he said.
“The budget committee will complement the efforts of the councillors who are the representatives of the committee. We also have representatives from our stakeholders that have technical knowledge, which we think will assist us in the crafting of the budget,” said Tandi.
“This budget committee is going to assist us in achieving our desired goals as council and residents. The objective was to have a view on how we can come up with a good 2022 council budget. When we start the budget consultations we will be fully aware of the nitty-grittys. We want to give the residents a budget that is efficient and effective,” said the Mayor.
Acting Town Clerk Tinashe Mutetwa said Mutare City Council Budget Committee is responsible for the initial review of the annual budget submission.
“Mutare City Council created the budget committee to provide increased public accountability and elected official monitoring of the fiscal position of the city. The committee will periodically review and provide policy guidance to budgetary analysis and fiscal action plans and provide reports to council,” said Mutetwa.
“This will improve confidence in residents who are the ratepayers. We have been having stakeholder consultations, but we feel that this will now expand to the grassroots. We feel that with the budget committee that has a range of various representatives, we are going to have a long way to understand and unpack the budget process that will expand to all various sectors within our city,” said the Acting Town Clerk.
“The various sectors that have joined us in the budget committee will also help to educate and interpret the community on the budget process. We need to join hands and empower our communities with enough information on the budget processes,” explained Mutetwa.
David Mutambirwa, the Program Director for Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA), said the budget committee brings an opportunity for the residents to appreciate how the whole budget process is done.
“It gives us an opportunity to understand our position. It gives us opportunity to have an informed advocacy strategy and to air our concerns as residents. It is a good prospect if it is implemented very well. We want a budget process that has sincerity, transparency and accountability to the. We are expecting that this budgeting committee will influence adequate service delivery and revenue collection,” Mutambirwa said.
Edison Dube the Programs Director for United Mutare Residents Trust (UMRRT) said: “ln the past we have been complaining that Mutare City Council does not consult and this is an opportunity to ensure us that they have changed their approach. This will give us the chance to influence the budget from within and not from outside. This is our city, this is our budget. We will always monitor and decide what we want included in the budget and see what is happening to our money. We believe this is a good beginning of meaningful engagement.”
The chairperson of the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers Union (Mutare Chapter) Obert Mucheto said the budget must also include the plight of the Mutare City Council workers.
“In order for us to have an improved service delivery in the city, there is also need to improve the salaries and working conditions of the workers. The current scenario is demotivating and this will affect service delivery,” Mucheto said.
“Current situation demotivates workers and does not encourage positive morals among workers who end up being absent from work as they have no money and cannot do their job wholeheartedly, hence we urge council executives to ensure that workers adequate wage,” he said.
Mucheto bemoaned lack of protective clothing and uniforms for the council workers and implored that the budget should cater for such.
