The 42 special administrators of the 12 municipal councils are appointed on merit.

This has been clarified by the Minister of Local Government, Maciu Nalumisa, in response to concerns from members of the public that the majority of those appointed are just political party candidates.

He says that all appointed special administrators will be tasked with looking after the status of towns and cities and also working on improving service delivery to ratepayers.

“Some of them are former mayors; some of them are former civil servants; one is even a former permanent secretary; and there are other people who have a good background from the places they have worked. So, leaving aside politics, these are people the government believes are going to work for the councils because they have enough experience to innovate new ways and also come up with better ideas on how to move all the municipalities forward.”

Out of the 42 appointees, only five women have been appointed to the special administrator’s role.

He says that the majority wants more women to be part of the administration, but the results are based on what all the coalition partners have agreed on, which is also supported by the Prime Minister.

“So we look forward, even though we do not have enough female administrators, to more participation from women in the upcoming municipal elections.”

The term of the appointed administrators will end once the writ of election for municipal council is announced.