BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – If you do not understand what the Decentralization Bill is, you can now ask your local Chief.
This comes after the Ministry of Tinkhundla and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hosted a workshop to train chiefs on the decentralisation bill. The training started yesterday in Matsapha.
Minister at the Ministry of Tinkhundla David Ngcamphala reiterated that the Government’s mandate concerning decentralisation of services is to ensure that no citizen has to travel more than 8 kilometres to access public services.
“All of this is to try and ensure that the citizens are able to get help close to them. This is a law which we, as the members of parliament, the citizens, and the chiefs, believe is of paramount importance,” Minister Ngcamphala said.
Manzini Regional Administrator Prince Gija remarked that they are engaging in the excersise to have a clear understanding of each stakeholder’s role in the decentralised system of service delivery.
Nkiliji Chief, Mkhumbi Dlamini, expressed enthusiasm for the passing of the Decentralisation Bill of 2022.
“This will make it such that Tinkhundla are judged based on reality. We sometimes hear people judging that Tinkhundla has failed when they have not. What has failed is the system in which they have been given power which they should use to empower grassroots developments,” Chief Mkhumbi remarked.
The Decentralization Bill of 2022 is under review before it is passed in parliament.
