Chapter three: Democracy and good political governance Police Complaints Authority are supposed to ensure administrative fairness, the rule of law and public accountability. The judiciary is supposed to interpret the laws and administer justice. 176. The CSAR is silent on the assessment of the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. Nevertheless, the CSAR notes several weaknesses in some of these institutions. For example, the ombudsman’s reports are said to have never been tabled for parliamentary discussion since 2003, and the auditor general is reported to have a huge backlog of auditing. Decentralisation and popular participation 177. Vision 2020 and the National Poverty Strategy provide the basic principles of decentralisation for the purpose of national development. The principal objectives of decentralisation are to promote participatory democracy and efficient service delivery. The current decentralisation process started with the enactment of the Local Government Act of 1997 and the Local Government Elections Act of 1998. Democratic local government elections were held in 2005. In April 2005, a total of 128 community councils and one municipal council were elected. There are also 10 district councils comprised from the 128 community councils. The 2005 local government elections were characterised by a low turnout of only 25 per cent of registered voters and therefore did not extend popular participation. 178. The District Planning Unit (DPU), which is composed of technical representatives of the central government ministries in the district, assists the community councils in planning development projects. The district administrator is the secretary to the District Development Coordinating Committee (DDCC), whose responsibility it is to consolidate the community development plans into a district development plan and approve it. The committee consists of representatives from the district council, community councils, chiefs and civil society. The DPU and DDCC thus provide the councils with technical support and services. However, the integration of communities in the planning processes is weak, if not nonexistent. 179. As already indicated, the local councils were established fairly recently, in 2005. They continue to experience inadequate human resource capacity. They have scant local revenue and are largely dependent on central government grants. They are therefore constrained in effectively discharging their functions and delivering public services. Local councils and traditional leaders 180. The 1993 constitution legitimises the coexistence of the chiefs and local councils. The traditional hierarchy has the following order: principal chiefs (22), ward chiefs, area chiefs and village headmen. Chiefs perform administrative functions within areas of their jurisdiction. Within the central government, they fall under the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship (MoLG). 181. The principal chiefs have powers conferred on them by the constitution of Lesotho. They constitute the College of Chiefs, whose responsibilities are to decide on succession to the monarchy, serve as ex officio senators in the upper house of Parliament and maintain the national archives. The powers of the chiefs are defined in the Chieftainship Act of 1968, sections 6 and 7, and include: supporting, aiding and maintaining the king and his government; serving and promoting the welfare of people in their areas of authority; maintaining public order and safety; preventing crime; and the administration of justice. 61