Jack Up Government urges Councils

The Government has urged Local Authorities to deliver expected services to their residents in an effective and efficient manner.  

The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Charles Kalemba said this at the conclusion of a country wide monitoring visit to local authorities by controlling officers from Capital Hill.

Kalemba said it is disheartening to read of resource and funds abuse in local councils. ‘The work at local council is a call. It is not for those who are un-patriotic and would want to get rich quickly’, said Kalemba.

The PS warned the District Commissioners that time for transferring problem officers from one council to another had ended. ‘Those who mis appropriate resources meant for the poor will themselves be answerable and the full extent of the law will take its natural course. I will not protect any such deviant officers,’ said the PS.

The PS said local councils had the mandate and capacity to develop their areas by making sure that development initiatives are people owned and implemented without let or hindrance. The PS also warned against shoddy work by contractors employed by councils saying these will also not be accepted.

Kalemba also further appealed to the councils to change the face of decentralisation, service delivery, financial compliance and faultless expenditure. He said time for millions of Malawians to look up to their councils in appreciation of their good work had come.

The monitoring exercise was done with the support of the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) as part its functions under the constitution of the republic of Malawi section 149 of 1994.

The function mandates the NLGFC to coordinate, consolidate and monitor local council budgets, regulate and ensure prudent use of financial resources in councils as well as mobilisation, allocation disbursement and accounting for financial resources.