Govts urged to use local knowledge

Momase

A MOROBE local level government councillor is calling on the national and provincial governments and the district to work with ward councillors to identify development projects that will benefit people most.
Timmy Tom, the ward 24 councillor of Umi-Atzera local level government in Markham, said government officials often do not understand the needs of the people at the grassroots level.
Tom, who is a three-term councillor, said the lack of funding has been the biggest obstacle to his ability to improve the life of his people.
“To bring about change and development we need money,” he said. “That is the biggest challenge any government is faced with today, including us at the ward level. I believe that wards can develop if they are allocated more funding for projects.”
He said each ward gets about K10,000 in development grants a year, but the money is often tied to specific projects and accessed through proposals submitted to the district.
“Councillors live, walk, eat and sleep with the people and we know where their real needs are,” Tom said. “We know the population in our wards and we know exactly what the people needed in terms of development.”
For example, he said, his ward had a population of more than 2000 people but only had one aid post and no health clinic.
He said the aid post was located at Garam Primary School and because it was far from the main villages, people would take at least an hour to walk there.