Councils get 83% of their annual funding in 9 Months

BREAKING NEWS

LETS GET TO WORK, CHAKWERA - Monday, 06 July 2020 11:30

Councils get 83% of their annual funding in 9 Months – NLGFC. ^Featured

Symon Lubanga

News

The National Local Government Finance Committee has transferred a total of MK32.4 billion to Local Government Authorities by December 2019. This is contained in a press release signed by the NLGFC’s Executive Director, Alifeyo Banda.

Speaking to the NLGFC Newsletter, Budget Analyst Jonathan Banda says the disbursements represents 83% of the approved budget which stands at MK39.1 billion.

Banda says the published figures of Central Government Fiscal Transfers to Local Government Authorities, ‘are for the for the nine (9) month period from July 2019 to March 2020 of the 2019/20 financial year’.

The release quotes Banda as saying , ‘the public may wish to note that in the 2019/20 National Budget, a sum of MK39.1billion Central Government Transfers was approved for Local Government Authorities. This comprised of MK27.7 billion and MK11.4 billion in terms of Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) and Capital Budget (development); respectively’.

Speaking to the NLGFC Newsletter, Director of Finance Kondwani Santhe says, ‘the NLGFC promotes transparency and enhances accountability to utilization of public funds transferred to local government authorities, hence publication of the disbursements so far for the 2019/20 financial year’.

Santhe says all Local Government Authorities should display summarized monthly revenue and expenditure statements on their public notice boards for information to the public in their areas of jurisdiction.

The mandate and roles for NLGFC are derived from the Constitution (section 149) and are to: Receive budget estimates from all Local Authorities; Examine and supervise accounts of Local Government Authorities subject to the recommendations of the Auditor General; Make recommendations relating to the distribution of funds allocated to local governments authorities; Prepare a consolidated budget for all Local Government Authorities, after consultations with the Treasury. The budgets are then presented to the National Assembly by the Minister of Local Government for noting; and make application for supplementary funds.