Online Reporter
Judith Phiri [email protected]
THE commissioning of a council clinic, motorbikes, road equipment and service vehicles in Binga is expected to strengthen service delivery, with Government equipping the local authority with infrastructure and resources to better meet the needs of communities.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony in Binga on Thursday, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe, said Government was committed to ensuring that no place was left behind in service delivery.
“I have come to Binga today not merely to hand over assets, but to reaffirm, in the clearest and most unequivocal terms, that this Government sees Binga, hears Binga and is committed to ensuring that Binga is not left behind.
“For too long, this district, like many of our border and remote rural districts, has borne the weight of geographic isolation, of underinvestment, and of being spoken about rather than invested in. Today marks another decisive step in changing that narrative,” he said.
“What we gather to commission today is not a trifling matter. We are commissioning a council clinic that will bring health services closer to the people of this district.
“We are commissioning road equipment that will empower this council to open up and maintain roads that have for too long cut off communities from schools, clinics, markets and each other — particularly during the rainy season, when our people in the more remote wards of this district are effectively marooned.”
He said two service vehicles were also being commissioned to enhance the mobility and responsiveness of council’s technical and administrative staff.
Another vehicle was being provided for the council chairperson to enable the elected leadership of the council to traverse the vast and sparsely served district with agility, providing oversight and presence where they were most needed.
Minister Garwe said 32 motorbikes were being commissioned for councillors, one for every ward, together with four additional operational motorbikes.
“We are commissioning thirty-two motorbikes for our councillors, one for every ward, together with four additional operational motorbikes, ensuring that, for the first time in a very long time, every single councillor in Binga will have the means to physically reach every household under their representation,” he said.
He said Binga was a large, sparsely populated and, in places, extremely difficult-to-access district.
“A councillor without transport in such a district is a councillor disconnected from the very people they were elected to serve,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the motorbikes were not a convenience but “an instrument of democracy itself”.
“They ensure that representation in this district is not confined to those wards nearest the district centre, but extends fully and equally to every ward, every village, and every household across Binga.”
He said service delivery was, and must remain, the singular measure by which the success of local government in Zimbabwe was judged.
“It is not enough for a council to exist upon the organogram of this country,” he said.
