Development Analyst Dr. Charity Musamba has expressed […]

Development Analyst Dr. Charity Musamba has expressed concern over the lack of declining concern of local councils over community halls, stating that this has deeply affected the communities from using them to engage and use the facilities for engagement.

 Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times, Dr. Musamba described the status quo as retrogressive, calling on the local authorities to rehabilitate the existing facilities and build more halls across the country. Community halls are a vital facility for municipal services and centers for community engagement and are also used as safe spaces for youth and platforms for skills building.

Although for Lusaka City Council, 10 community halls were slated for rehabilitation for usage of early childhood development under the funding of Big Win Philanthropy, most of the facilities across the country are in a state of neglect.

“The privatization process, alongside the democratization, affected the local government, as municipalities and cities were offloading assets. There are several assets that were left to dilapidate because the governance system that we adopted did not pay attention to community public spaces.”

 She revealed that most local councils have opted to lease the facilities in a bid to make money, but this is at the expense of the communities. Dr. Musamba argued that the establishment of Member of Parliament offices was a waste of resources; instead, those resources should have been used to rehabilitate the infrastructure.

“They have opted to lease the halls to religious bodies and business entities in a bid to make money, but this is stepping on the privilege of the community. I think it’s imperative that the council starts to upgrade these facilities to align them with the changes in our environment; that could be “We have a lot of community halls that look like no one owns them, and some places they are totally dilapidated; others are even used as bars for alcohol trading.”

Article by Sam Mutale