Wards allocated K64m: Basil

THE Government has allocated K64 million to the ward support improvement programme (WSIP), National Planning and Monitoring Minister Sam Basil says.
Basil who is also Bulolo MP, said more than 6,000 wards in the country would each receive K10,000 each to improve service delivery at the ward level. “Before, the Government parked all the funds in the LLG and ward councillors had to access funds there to maintain services in the wards,” he said.
“Now the money will go directly to the wards.”
Basil said all ward development committees should open bank accounts where the Government could deposit their allocations.
He told the people of Buang that Bulolo development authority would give an extra K10,000 to each ward in the district.
Basil said when he was the minister for national planning and monitoring in 2011, he introduced the funding of K500,000 to each LLG in the country.
“This was later dropped by the Government then when LLG presidents struggled with local MPs for that money.”
Basil said now, the money would go straight to the wards as councillors lived with the bulk of the people in the communities.
“All money spent on projects that are agreed to by the community will be accounted for and receipts be kept for all members of the community to know where their money is being spent and for what purposes,” he said.