As defined by the Ministry of Local Government in Zambia, decentralisation is the transfer of responsibilities, authority, functions as well as power and appropriate resources to provincial, district and sub-district levels (Ministry of Local Government, 2023). Currently underpinned by Part XI of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2016 on Local Government, the legal framework for decentralisation is also provided in several subsidiary legislation including the Local Government Act No. 2 of 2019, the Constituency Development Fund Act No. 11 of 2018, the National Planning and Budgeting Act No. 1 of 2020, the Public Finance Management Act No. 1 of 2018 and the Public Procurement Act No. 8 of 2020.
Decentralization has been a long standing agenda for Zambia spanning from the introduction of the Local Government Act No. 30 of 1965, soon after independence. Since its introduction, the legal, policy and institutional framework for decentralization has evolved over time.
The Local Government Act No. 30 of 1965 established 24 urban and 43 rural Local Authorities, assigning them over 60 functions and abolishing the colonial-era Native Authorities. In 1971, the Registration and Development of Villages Act No. 30 was enacted, creating Ward and Village Development Committees to focus on local development.
In 1980, the Local Administration Act No. 15 was passed, establishing the Ministry of Decentralisation within the Office of the Prime Minister. This Act aimed to merge central and local government administrations with ruling party structures for better coordination, but it only partially succeeded, integrating the roles of the District Secretary and District Governor. Local offices continued reporting to provincial and national headquarters.
The shift to multi-party democracy in 1991 led to further decentralization changes. The Ministry of Decentralisation was restructured into the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, and the Local Government Act No. 22 of 1991 was enacted to separate party structures from government structures, replacing the Local Administration Act No. 15 of 1980. In 2002, the government adopted its first Decentralisation Policy, revised in 2013. The 2016 Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act No. 2 established a devolved system of governance under Article 147. This lead up to the launch of the National Decentralisation Policy in 2023 along with an implementation plan for the period from 2023 to 2027.
One key component of decentralization which has not been adequately achieved is fiscal decentralization. For Zambia, total Local Government expenditure accounted for only 0.9% of total Government spending in 2013 (Commonwealth Local Government Forum, 2018). This is as opposed to a number of countries in Sub-Sharan Africa namely, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa where approximately 50% of Government spending is at the subnational level and a small group of other African countries where subnational spending is considered significant, that is between 15 and 20% of total Government spending namely, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda (International Monetary Fund, 2018). More recently, Zambia is attempting to utlize increases in the Constiturncy Development Fund (CDF) as a conduit to enhance its fiscal decentralization.
Stemming from the drastic increase in allocations to the CDF, there have been growing concerns around the lack of financial controls and procuring capacity within Local Authorities as well as the risk of heightened financial mismanagement through the CDF. From 2022, the CDF allocations per constituency
have dramatically increased from ZMW1.6 million per constituency in 2021 to ZMW25.7 million in 2022, ZMW28.3 million in 2023 and ZMW30.6 million per constituency in 2024 (Ministry of Finance, 2021 – 2023). Further, there are concerns around the availability of adequate spaces and facilitation of public participation. This is in recognizing that public participation remain crucial for the success of CDF specifically and decentralisation as a whole.
Leading up to the launch of the new Decentralisation Policy and implementation plan, there have been some significant changes that relate to growing concerns around transparency and the need for the protection of and accountability for public resources.
This analysis seeks to scrutinize the 2023 Decentralization Policy and its implementation plan by comparing it against the 2013 policy as well as considering its constituent parts with respect to two crucial areas, namely, Governance which incompasses transparency, accountability and public participation; and Public Finance Management (PFM) and Fiscal Decentralization. The analysis will also include a case study on CDF in Zambia.
