Luchenza Ward councillors push council officials out of offices

Ward councillors for Luchenza Municipality have told council senior staff, including the chief executive officer to leave their offices as they await their posting elsewhere , declaring that their services at the municipality are untenable.

This is the latest row between ward councillors and secretariat staff on one hand and ward councillors and members of parliament on another to which experts blame on ward councillors continued ignorance of their roles.

Luchenza Municipality Mayor Harold Kaliwo said the councillors want the chief executive officer Andrew Misomali, director of Public Works Charles Makiyi and chief accountant Chinthengo out of the council.

“These people have been abusing their offices, they have been stealing from the council.and they absent themselves from work as they please,” said Kaliwo.

He said the ward councillors and other council members have written the ministry of Local Government to remove the three officials as a matter of urgency.

“We have sealed their offices, we don’t want them here,” said Kaliwo.

But CEO Misomali said the ward councillors are going out of boundary in their work, saying they want to be doing the job of the secretariat and the council offiocials have been repelling this.

“They do not understand that their job is initiation of development works in their respective wards but they increasingly interfere with out work and we told them no, this is why they are angry. They have no powers to fire us anyway because they are not our employers,” he said.

He said he and the other officials will be working from home or elsewhere until the government makes a decision on the matter. The councillors over the weekend accused the CEO of absentism which they said causes late funding as the councillors have not received their monthly allowances for two months now.

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