By Golden Kang’oma
Salima District Council says its vacancy rate has reached an alarming rate of 51 percent with a significant number of unfilled positions in the education sector.
The development was disclosed Friday during a Council meeting, where various service committees presented their reports.
District Commissioner (DC) for Salima, James Mwenda, has attributed the high vacancy rate to the ongoing devolution of different sectors to the local council.
He said: “The current system of devolution, where the central government is transferring its powers to local councils, is posing challenges in terms of staffing.”
Mwenda said efforts are being made with different stakeholders to address the issue by filling the vacant posts to maximize outcomes of the council.
According to Mwenda, the Council is working hand in hand with the Department of Human Resources and Development to fill the vacancies.
He added that the education sector, particularly hard-to-reach schools, has been severely impacted by the high vacancy rate.
“The education sector is very affected. So, we are working hard to bridge this gap to improve service delivery in Salima,” he said.
Councillor for Lipimbi Ward, who is also Chairperson for Human Resource and Development, Letani Mthapwi, said efforts are underway to recruit and place qualified individuals in these critical positions to enhance the quality of services provided to the community.
“We are facilitating that these vacant posts should be filled immediately so that functions of the council and services should not be affected. We are working hand in hand with the council secretariat to make sure that everything is put in place,” he said.
Chairperson for Civil Society Organisations in the district, Paul Duncan, said speedy filling of the vacant posts is crucial to speed up service delivery and implementation of development projects.