9.8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT
9.8.1 Relevant Articles 71-78
9.8.2 Rationale for the recommendation made
9.8.2.1 The NCLDO and the Supreme Congress of the People are incompatible with the local government structure, the electoral system, and system of government being recommended for the revised Constitution, and the Supreme Congress of the People has never worked well.
9.8.2.2 The general objective of the recommendations is to devolve authority to communities for their local affairs, thereby fostering inclusionary democracy and collaboration across ethnic barriers.
9.8.3 Specific Recommendations
(1) Rewrite Articles 82-88 to remove the references to Socialism.
(2) Revise the text to fit in with the content of the recommended new Chapter II as it relates to the principles of local government, and with the local government structure being recommended.
(3) Abolish the NCLDO and the Supreme Congress of the People.
(4) The Constitution should enunciate on the autonomy of local government bodies.
(5) The Constitution shall specify that RDCs, NDCs, and municipalities are mandatory local government organs, and shall provide for their creation. It should also specify that Parliament should provide for the establishment of village/community councils, Which would be activated as quasi local government bodies if the people of those Communities so request.
(6) The Constitution should provide for Parliament to establish a Local Government Commission which should be empowered with staffing, regulatory and dispute Resolution functions.
(7) The Constitution should provide for legislation which would allow for the lower tier of the local government to be represented at the tier immediately above.
(8) The Constitution should provide for the electoral system at the levels of the local Government below the regions to be built upon the pillars of representativeness, proportionality and accountability to the electorate. (there might be need for this provision to be dated, in terms of its implementation, because of the preparatory work which is required).
(9) The Constitution should provide for the electoral system, at the levels of local government below the region, to provide for the involvement of individuals and voluntary groups in addition to political parties.
(10) The Constitution should provide for legislation for the formulation and implementation of objective criteria for the purposes of the allocation of resources to, and the garnering of resources by local authorities.
(11) The Constitution should provide for the functions of the Auditor General to include the auditing of the accounts of local government bodies.
9.8.4 Voting all by consensus
