PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to strengthening local governance structures, noting that there have been expanded investments aimed at improving services and boosting the capacity of the local authorities.

The Head of State was at the time speaking during a recent interview during which he addressed the evolving role of local authorities.

Dr Ali explained that the administration is channelling more resources directly to communities, but emphasised that greater responsibility must come with additional support.

“We are already devolving more resources, more resources going down to the NDCs (Neighbourhood Democratic Councils) and the hinterland communities also, so there’s more responsibility to come with those resources right now,” he said.

Dr Ali pointed to a series of initiatives already underway, including fire safety, infrastructure, and community amenities.

“We’re investing to give every NDC modern fire trucks to respond to fires. We’re investing in all the roads and drains. We’re putting in streetlights in all their communities. We are investing in recreational facilities. We’re investing in waste disposal sites so that they can have proper garbage collection,” he highlighted.

The President went on to note that the enhanced roles of NDCs, RDCs and village councils stem from the scale of resources and assets they are now required to manage such bodies.

“When we say evolving, there is already an evolving role for the local authorities, the NDCs, the RDCs, the village council; that role is evolving. It’s evolving because of the type of resources they now are managing, and the type of assets that we are passing down to them, because we want democracy and efficiency to be built at every single level,” he said.

The President went on to note that it is very important that the government invests at the community level, at the level of the RDC and the village level.

Additionally, he added that such investments are not only from a physical perspective or financial perspective but also, they are about building out the human capital, improving regulations and making systems more efficient.

“If they don’t have the capacity and capability, if they don’t have the human resource asset, if they don’t have the technical skills, then the service that the citizenry would love to enjoy as a result of the investment we’re making may not be enjoyed, and that is what we meant this time,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of reform, President Ali added that his government is committed to ensuring that these bodies are properly equipped to serve the people effectively.

“I think that we take a deep dive to restructure these bodies, and ensure that they are well staffed, fully equipped and ensure that they have more transparency, more accountability, and to create more service-oriented, service-friendly environment for all of these bodies,” the President stated.