Commonwealth Local Government Forum

I attended the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) national conference in eThekwini (Durban) in late August, a highlight of which was the warning by its Executive Mayor James Nxumalo about the need for local government to deal with climate change. The conference also saw the retirement of SALGA Chairperson and former CLGF Vice Chairperson Amos Masondo.

Although South African local government is among the most developed on the African continent, it still faces enormous challenges in dealing with service delivery, reducing poverty and proving employment and shelter, especially to deal with the influx of vast numbers of migrants into its big cities. This is why much of CLGF’s support of South African local government has focused on projects around promoting local economic development, vital for generating new investment and jobs.

If South African development is relatively advanced, I saw the other extreme in South Sudan, Africa’s newest state and recent applicant for Commonwealth membership, which I saw when I visited its capital Juba in early September. A few statistics demonstrate the reality: the maternal mortality rate is the worst in the world, net enrolment in primary education is the third worst in the world and numbers living below the minimum level of dietary consumption is the fifth worst in the world.

Clearly South Sudan is confronted with a huge developmental task and it is seeking to address these in part by embarking on an active decentralisation programme. CLGF and its members, especially in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda can assist, notably by providing work attachments and skills training and other forms of technical assistance to help local government in the country get established.

En route, I briefly visited Nairobi Kenya and met our members including Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavida and ALGAK Pr4esident Cllr Taraiya Kores to discuss how CLGF can assist the new far-reaching local government reforms which will shortly come into effect. These reforms will set up some 40 new county structures with directly elected governors and assemblies and will require exposure to the practical nuts and bolts of decentralised governance. I also met the head of UN Habitat, Joan Clos, whose organisation is in the forefront of dealing with the challenges of rapid urbanisation and provision of shelter across the world.

In Uganda, which has one of the most decentralised local government systems in Africa, CLGF has been instrumental in ensuring the posting of a Commonwealth local government adviser for East Africa. We will also be holding our 2013 CLGF Conference in Kampala and my visit coincided with the first meeting of our conference steering committee, chaired by CLGF Vice Chairperson Hon Adolf Mwesige.

African local government everywhere faces great challenges and there is much for CLGF and for international development partners to do. In addressing these challenges, it is important to support the developmental role of local government which, being the sphere of government closest to the people, is well placed to tackle poverty, improve community services and ensure good governance at local level.     

 

Carl Wright

Secretary-General, CLGF

September 2011

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