Devolution indaba on cards

George Maponga in Masvingo

The Masvingo provincial leadership intends to host a second devolution conference to ensure a total buy-in to the programme by everyone in the province.

Masvingo has so far benefited from devolution after President Mnangagwa’s Government disbursed over $33 million through the programme which has seen the province’s socio-economic transformation.

The inaugural conference was held last year before the release of the initial tranche for the programme which was used to fund the construction of new schools, roads and clinics that are at various stages of completion.

The second devolution conference is the brainchild of Minister of State for Masvingo Ezra Chadzamira who wants the province to consolidate the development made under the programme.

Provincial Development Coordinator Mr Fungai Mbetsa was yesterday upbeat about the second devolution conference.

He said the mobilisation of resources for the conference was already underway.

“It (second devolution conference) is the brainchild of the Minister of State and we are in the process of looking for funders so that we bring together all stakeholders in the devolution matrix,” he said.

“The minister wants a total buy in for devolution at lower tier levels of Government so that people at grassroots fully understand what the programme is about,” he said.

Mr Mbetsa said it was important for communities to understand that devolution was not only about transferring funds from central government to local authorities

He said communities should use devolution to unlock value from locally available resources.

“We want our people to have buy in to the concept of devolution. There must be appreciation of devolution at community level and our people should in actual fact leverage on resources available in their areas thanks to devolution,” said Mr Mbetsa.

He commended progress made across the province’s socio-economic sphere owing to devolution.

Several new clinics, roads and schools have been built in almost all the districts across Masvingo after the release of the close to $35 million devolution war chest since the start of the programme.