By Correspondent
Councils have new guidelines for the use of devolution funds under the Zimbabwe Inter-Governmental Fiscal Transfer System Administrative Manual.
The manual was approved by Cabinet early this year.
It outlines new ways to be employed to safeguard the funds from abuse.
Ring-Fenced Funds
They include: depositing Devolution Funds into a dedicated ring-fenced bank account.
The account will require up to 6 signatories and will be subjected to monthly audits by a designated senior official.
-Any unutilised devolution funds will be rolled over to the following financial year.
The change was necessitated by the habit of Local Authorities to rush and recklessly spend devolution funds to beat the close of the financial year.
-Local authorities are still expected to consult residents before they institute any projects.
Transfer of Funds
-Capital and operating transfers shall be disbursed to Provincial and Metropolitan Councils and local authorities, on a monthly basis subject to quarterly reviews.
-The total transfers to a Council shall be at least 5 percent of actual revenue collected for each quarter.
This will be pursuant to compliance with the constitutional provision in Section 301(3).
-Provincial/Metropolitan Councils and local authorities are now required to prepare a report on the financial and physical progress of capital projects using only the prescribed format in the manual.
Auditing Council Books
The report will be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and copied to Treasury.
The manual says the reports should be submitted monthly.
-Biannual reports on the physical progress of capital projects are required by the end of January and July respectively.
-The monitoring of the devolution projects and funds shall be done by teams appointed by the Ministers of Finance and Local Government.
-For matters of transparency, Government will also provide auditors who will go around auditing Council books.
This will be done every quarter.
