22 Jul 2014

Government Implementation and Coordination Office (GICO) partnered with District Administration to resuscitate district structures for efficient and effective delivery

Its coordinator, Mr Lewis Malikongwa, said during district commissioners’ workshop in Palapye on Thursday (July 17) that community-based organisations, especially village development committees and others such as parents and teachers associations were important for feedback from communities.

Mr Malikongwa said village development committees were the most credible voice of the people and therefore working with them would ensure that government was in touch with the reality that obtained in communities.

“The processes we are setting in motion should serve to ensure that community concerns are not only heard but also attended to on time,” he said.With regard to programme and project coordination for improved implementation, he said GICO was planning a project portfolio for all the district officers.

“We shall be meeting district development officers on how to monitor and coordinate implementation of projects and programmes,” he said.

He said his office was also planning to hold a planners forum on project implementation, which would bring together ministry and district planners to discuss coordination and implementation.

Mr Malikongwa urged district commissioners to ensure that district development committees, district extension teams and district land use planning units as well as community-based organisations were functional because their work was important.

He also said district commissioners needed a focus of their functions that would conform to the current socio economic environment. He noted that efforts to reform and transform the public service seem to have not taken into account what should have been the new role of district commissioners.

“I believe the district commissioners should focus more on district performance monitoring, district coordination for improved and successful project and programme implementation and service delivery,” he said.

He said it was time district commissioners were relieved of certain duties such as immigration selection boards, refugees boards, event management, protocol, boards of survey, district housing allocation, road safety, district sports, Youth Development Fund and others.

Mr Malikongwa added that district commissioner’s office needed resources to have the capacity to carry out its development coordination function.“We should re-look into the institutional arrangements for better placement of the office of the district commissioner if indeed we are to achieve improved service delivery and effective coordination of projects and programmes for better implementation,” he said. ENDS