News that one has reached a finish line in receiving free entitlements has never been accorded with a happy reception; more so when the entitlement is anything to do with money.

However, be as it may, some Ex Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries of Dedza district have gone a long mile to set standards in preparing and accepting that they have finally graduated from the poverty level deserving the intervention of the Malawi Government through Social Safety Net Programmes, mainly the Social Cash Transfer.

70 year old Archangel Chimkwapulo of Chioza village, Traditional Authority Kaphuka in the district became a beneficiary of the money transfer scheme in 2017, and over the past 4 years he has been working on upgrading his household's living conditions, claiming that his goal has always been to graduate from the programme and give a chance to others to benefit from it.

"On the onset of the programme we were told that this was not going to be a permanent arrangement, as such we were encouraged to be working towards attaining economic independence so that if the programme was going to phase out we should be self reliant," explains Chimkwapulo.

Given a chance every beneficiary of the Social Cash Transfer Programme would like to remain in the programme for as many decades as they live, but this is not the path that the Programme would like to take.

In the past few years the Malawi Government introduced a graduation programme meant to assist beneficiaries who have been in the programme for at least four years to see their way out of the Programme, especially having attained a certain level of sustainable economic independence.

According to Deputy Director of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare Laurent Kansinjiro in household graduation beneficiary household that are no longer qualifying to benefit from the programme are exited while new ones are enrolled at the same time.

"So there are two main ways of exiting beneficiary households; one is the administrative graduation in which every four years we undertake a retargeting. Through this exercise some households are found to no longer need assistance and they are exited, while the second one is sustainable graduation initiative under which households are deliberately prepared for exiting,”

“In the sustainable graduation we beef up exiting households with money plus interventions aimed at ensuring that they do not fall back on Social Cash Transfer in a short space of time," he adds.

He says these money plus interventions include money saving and loans schemes such as Village Savings and Loans groups and various training in business skills that create a surface for the breeding of their money and assets creation.

Through measures such as introducing the Village Savings and Loans (VSL) and SACCO groups the Dedza beneficiaries have managed to carry out huge visible developments that have set them up for economic stability.

For Chimkwapulo, a maize and beans business that he started with K40, 000 saw him rise from buying 4 bags of maize and a bag of beans to filling up a stores with over a hundred bags of the two commodities.

Narrating his story, he says realizing his failure to build a solid foundation for his children at the age of 56 he decided to give it a long shot because, to him, this was a last chance to prove that he can develop.

"So when I started receiving money I did not take it as an allowance for daily food, but rather a seed to plant. I knew that if I did not use this money wisely I would end up regretting later and there would be no chance to reverse the situation," he says.

“Through the maize business I managed to buy an oxcart with oxen (in the form of donkeys) and a push bike. These are very important assets here in the village and on my business. To begin with, the bike is the one that I use when I am going to buy farm produce from far distances and when I buy more I use the oxcart to ferry it."

"But that's not all, because the oxcart is a seriously lucrative business in its own around here. When harvest time comes I make more than K20 000 daily through ferrying farm produce for others. This is something that has never been there in my life," he explains further in a smile that suggests satisfaction.

Through the two new money sources, Chimkwapulo managed to upgrade his house to a good condition and also bought a Lifo motorcycle which he found to be aneed when he started selling bigger.

“I didn’t stop there. Knowing that sometimes business can let you down, so I decided to put in place backups, so I raise pigs, goats and chickens. I do sale the pigs and goats in order to continue boosting my business, and the chickens are meant for household nutrition which we also learnt through our Social Cash Transfer groups,” he adds.

Even better, he says "When I started the farm produce business I joined Linthipe cooperative through which recently we won a tender to supply food items to Chimbiya Primary school zone for school feeding programme. I am glad to tell you that through that engagement I have made K260, 000 which I just received last week and I am yet to reinvest it in the same food supply business."

Through his story one can tell that his once in a life opportunity came to him at a time he needed it most.

He says when he was told that he was graduating from the programme he did not worry because he is definitely not going to miss the K17000 he was receiving monthly as long as his businesses continue to run.

His story collarets with that of Rabecca Chipwete, a hardworking woman who has become a well known reliable food stuff supplier in her village, thanks to a business capital from the Social Cash Transfer Programme.

Out of a tomato, onion and fresh and dry beans business, she has managed to buy her family the comfort of a new beautiful house.

A keeper of seven male and female children of different ages, Chipwete says before she was enrolled into the Programme, her life was a joke considering the lack of dignity that was there for the family considering a small house they were living in.

“My biggest dream had always been to be able to move from the small house which was not good enough for my family, to a better one someday. But this dream was farfetched with no base to begin from, until the Social Cash Transfer enrolled me and I was geared to start a business that was going to take me to my dream house,” she explains sitting on the verandah of a 4 bedroom house she has built for her family.

This is aside the fact that her business continues to grow, as she holds on to plans of farming more Irish potatoes this year in order to cash out on them in the next season.

“Right now I am renting additional pieces of land for farming because come next season I don’t want to have the same capacity in my business: I want to be able to trade in double the money amounts I am handling now,” she optimistically adds.

The Social Cash Transfer coordination at the Ministry of Gender and Social welfare holds that beneficiary graduation from the programme is critical if government’s goals in initiating the programme were to be achieved. The positivity that Dedza ex-beneficiaries of the programme have portrayed is just a great ingredient for the successful implementation of the graduation programme.

Youths in Phalombe have commended government for the construction of Youth Resource Centre at Mpasa under Governance for Enabled Service Delivery (GESD) funds.

Speaking in an interview Mpasa Youth Network Chairperson Gift Mawindo who is also the district youth network secretary said this is the first of it's kind in the district.

"As youth in the district we had no resource centre and this will only not help us youth from Traditional Authority Nkhumba, but the who district to access youth friendly services at one place," he said.

He added that the centre had been a dream of youth from Nkhumba for so many years and they started on their own to construct one, but lack of resources was a challenge as most youths are not financially independent.

Speaking in a separate interview the District Commissioner Rodrick Mateauma said the district has a vibrant youth network with no structures to access youth services and that the construction of the resource centre will be of great impact to the youth in the district.

He added that most youths in the district are not working and a number of them are continuing graduating from different colleges and universities and some are finishing their secondary school so these will be of great help as they will be waiting to be employed while others waiting to go to college for further studies.

"During the first year of GESD funds we looked at a number of projects to be implemented and out of them five were selected which are Mpasa Youth Resource Centre, Chitumbwu to Chivula malaya and Chiringa to Muloza roads , Mouzi clinic and rehabilitation of Kalinde health centre martenity wing," he said.

He further said they also thought of a clinic and a doctor's house at Mouzi because people of that area were walking 20 Kms to access health services while the road were upgraded to ease transportation of food items to other centres and nebouring districts.

He added that despite been a hunger district, but there are some areas that do produce enough to feed other areas of the district and improving road network was of paramount important for easy transportation of the products.

In the first year the district recieved MK178 milliom from National Local Government Financial Commitment (NLGFC) with support from World Bank.

Contributor: Linda Likomwa, District Information Officer

Communities in Lilongwe district are full of praises of the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project, for enhancing their access and delivery of social services.

Through MK577, 758, 028.00 GESD funds received during the 2021-2021 financial year, the district has implemented a total of 16 various projects in the health, education, transport, commerce and security sectors.

Senior Group Village Head Chalendewa under Traditional Authority Kalumba, is full of praises of an OPD clinic that has been built in her area using GESD funds in the 2021-2022 financial year.

“We used to have challenges in accessing health services as the nearest hospitals which are Mitundu and Chadza health centres as well as Bwaila Hospital, are very far demanding people to spend a lot of money on transport,” she said.

Sibongire Kadzuwa, a Medical Assistant at Matapira Health Centre in Traditional Authority Mazengera, says GESD is an answered prayer to communities around the area through which they have benefited with an additional staff house.

According to Kadzuwa, medical personnel at the health facility commute from distant places like Kamphata and others from the city, because of lack of staff houses and decent accommodation around the area.

“This staff house would ensure that a good number of us are residing just within the vicinity of the health facility which will contribute to effective health service delivery to people around here,” he said.

To achieve these and many other projects under GESD, councils need to meet the requirements of the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA) that necessitates provision of the funds.

Lilongwe district commissioner, Dr. Lawford Palali, said the council would not have been able to register meaningful developments if not for the Performance Based Grants (PBG), which falls under the GESD project.

GESD is a five year $90 million (about MK90 billion) project, which the World Bank supports in order to strengthen institutional capacity and performance of district councils.

According to the DC, through the PGB, councils have been kept in check as they have to ensure they meet all the necessary requirements that necessitates them to be given the funds.

“For a council to qualify for the PBG, there is a need to meet the requirements of the Local Authorities Performance Assessment (LAPA), which is done to determine whether local authorities have the basic capacities or institutional safeguards to manage development grants as well as provide fiscal incentives to improve local authorities’ performance,” he said.

According to Palani, the LAPA also seeks to identify performance gaps and inform the development and implementation of performance improvement plans for local authorities.

He said meeting such requirements to receive the PBG, Lilongwe district council has been able to implement projects that have changed the face of the district as well as people’s livelihoods through enhanced access to social services like health, education as well infrastructure development.

“The council now has the financial muscle to implement its investment plans as outlined in the district development plan, a thing which was not possible in the past due to lack of enough funds,” said Palani.

This year, the district has received about MK 1 billion, through which a total of 18 projects will be implemented in the 2022-2023 financial year.

The project is facilitated by the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) as key lead partners.

Contributor: Nellie Kapatuka, District Information Officer, Lilongwe

People of Mangochi have expressed gratitude over Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project saying that the project has provided infrastructures that will improve services and mobility in the district citing construction of educational, health facilities and bridges.

The people expressed their gratitude when a team from the National Local Government Finance Committee and Mangochi District Council on Wednesday toured some of the projects implemented under GESD in the first phase.

The NLGFC and Mangochi District Council team visited Sokole Under-five Clinic and a concrete bridge under construction at Dzewe, Mputa Village in Traditional Authority Nankumba and newly constructed Nkope Teacher Development Center (TDC) in Nkope Educational Zone.

Sainati Milambo who comes from Group Village headman Sokole expressed happiness saying the under-five clinic has sorted out challenges which community members were facing citing poor child health services that resulted into death of under-five children.

She said mothers were forced to travel long distances to Nankumba Health Center to seek under- five children clinics and other outreach services.

“Many of our children have been denied health services due to long distance to Nankumba Health Center, we could take children to the health center when the condition is worse and lack of such services have resulted into death of children,” Milambo added.

She therefore commended the Mangochi Council for constructing the under-five clinic expressing hope that this will improve child health, adding that children are now accessing anti-malaria drugs and other medical attention.

  “We’ve been looking forward to an under five clinic, we no longer walk long distance to seek under five clinic,” she said as the new clinic which operates on Tuesdays and Thursdays assists 10 villages.

Community members participated in the construction of the facility by clearing the land; fetching water and also community structures for example ADC, VDC were always on the site to ensuring timely and quality structure.

The community members around the newly built clinic have assured the Mangochi District Council that they will take the clinic and will guard it against vandalism to ensure it effectively offer services,

Deputy Head teacher at Nkope Primary School, Halford Mbinda said the construction of the new TDC will improve educational services in the Nkope Zone where most of teachers discussions were held on a borrowed open shed while the Primary Education Advisor operated from a small office not conducive for his administrative duties.

Nkope TDC is right at Nkope Primary School and with the little shed which is used to accommodate teachers’ meetings, Mbinda said most of teachers meeting were held in classrooms in times of bad weather thereby inconveniencing learners’ classes.

“The coming of the TDC will help us to execute our duties in a conducive environment and this will no longer bring inconvenience to learners,” said Mbinda who looked forward to see the PEA in his new office and teachers in their new resource center once the facility is open for use soon.

He therefore commended Village and Area Development Committee for supervising the TDC construction project to its completion stage.

Mangochi District Council, Director of Planning and Development, Newton Munthali attributed to the successful of the first phase of the GESD project to the good coordination between community leaders and the council.

He added that some GESD supported projects are yet to be completed due to challenges which include tropical cyclones which forced contractors to suspend construction of some bridge projects such as Dzewe bridge project due to volumes of water along Dzewe River.

“The council had nine projects under GESD and as we speak we have finished almost all projects except a 20 metres Dzewe concrete bridge that connects Nkhalango and Mputa villages,” said Munthali.

The Director added that the K43 Million Dzewe Bridge will also assist learners from Nkhalango village who cross the bridge to attend classes at Kalowa Primary School at Mputa village.

The Government of Malawi embarked on a five year GESD Project with financial assistance from the World Bank to strengthen local authorities’ institutional performance, responsiveness to citizens and management of resources for service delivery

Contributor: Ernest Mfunya

The Board of Directors for the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kondwani Michael Santhe, FCCA, as Executive Director for the NLGFC.

Dr. Kondwani Santhe holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Accounting and Finance, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is a Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA). Dr Santhe is also a Certified Accountant (Mw) and a Non-Practicing member of ICAM. He also possesses various qualifications in Leadership, forensic auditing and investigations, Municipal Financial Management and Financial Planning and Control.

Dr. Santhe has extensive knowledge with over 20 years’ experience in the Public, Local Government and Quasi – Governmental organisations, International Non-Governmental Organisations, the Education sector and the National Local Government Finance Committee in various technical and leadership capacities as Director of Finance, Director of Finance and Administration, Internal Auditor, Senior Lecturer and Financial Management Specialist. He has been at the helm of championing game changing fiscal decentralization and prudent financial management approaches in Local Authorities in the country for enhanced service delivery. Dr Santhe was Director of Finance at the NLGFC before being appointed Acting Executive Director in December 2021.

The NLGFC Board believes that the vast experience and relevant qualifications that Dr. Santhe brings to the NLGFC as Executive Director will provide the necessary authority, credibility, decision making and Leadership for the attainment of the mandate and objectives of the NLGFC to champion local authorities fiscal decentralization and prudent financial management and contribute to the achievement of the Malawi Agenda 2063.

The Board congratulates Dr. Kondwani Santhe and wishes him all the best as he assumes his new role as Executive Director of the NLGFC.

Commissioner Richard Chapweteka

Board Chairperson

National Local Government Finance Committee

www.nlgfc.gov.mw 

Councils have applauded National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) for organizing trainings on Climate Smart Public Works Programme (CSPWP) which has capacitated council technical teams with project implementation processes.

Mulanje District Commissioner Stallich Mwambiwa made the remarks in Mangochi on…. during a training that was organized for District Enviromental Sub-Committee (DESC) members.

 “The training has capacitated DESC members on the implementation of the project. This will therefore enable smooth implementation of project pursuant to its timelines,” said Mwambiwa.

Mwambiwa added that Councils are geared to implement CSPWP that will create wealth among the ultra-poor communities, saying this will also improve livelihoods and economic potentials of community members.

Commenting on the development, Thyolo Director of Planning and Development, Molson Magombo, said that the training has built capacity for district level staff who will be key in CSWP implementation.

“After this training, DESC members will further orient community structures to ensure that the system has complete and clear information about the project. The council already endorsed and approved implementation of this project at district level,” added Magombo.

DESC is a subcommittee of District Executive Committee which coordinates the programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of environmental interventions at the district level.

One of the facilitators in Mangochi, Ephron Gausi from NLGFC, said the training was organized to prepare participating districts before commencement of the project.

“The training has assisted with preparatory processes for participating councils. These processes will lead to actual implementation of the CSPWP come this September. Such processes include identification of target micro catchment, identification and enrolment of beneficiaries and development of village level action plans for the target micro catchment,” said Gausi.

Mangochi training on CSPWP was one of the five trainings that took place in the country from 6^th to 10^th June as others were held in Zomba, Blantyre, Salima and Mzuzu.

The programme was implemented as a pilot phase for a year in 10 district councils.  From September 2022, the programme will therefore be rolled out to all district councils.

Climate Smart Public Works Programme is a component under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods project being implemented by National Local Government Finance Committee financed by the World Bank.

Government is committed to have a local government fiscal architecture that serves as a trusted and reliable vehicle for entrenching and institutionalising decentralisation on a sustainable basis.

Minister of Local Government Blessings Chinsinga said this in Lilongwe on Tuesday during the launch of the fifteenth edition of the World Bank's Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) Report titled strengthening fiscal resilience and service delivery.

He said deepening fiscal decentralisation is at the heart of the ministry’s agenda.

"We have embarked on an ambitious reorganization of our local councils to enhance their capacity and promote professionalization. We are identifying any technical, political and structural bottlenecks that may unduly inhibit progress; and we are committed to finalising the devolution of all sector functions to ensure that we have a fit-for-purpose decentralised institutional architecture that can help deliver, entrench and institutionalise a viable and robust democratic developmental local government system that is efficient, effective and responsive to the needs of Malawians, especially at the grassroots," said Chinsinga.

The minister said he is pleased that MEM notes positive strides Performance Based Grant (PBG) has on building trust on capacities of local government systems to manage finances.

The MEM is the World Bank’s flagship publication produced twice a year which outlines the economic performance of the country with a special focus topic for each edition. The report provides a very well-grounded analysis of economic and structural development in Malawi and aims at fostering better informed policy reviews and debates regarding the key challenges our beautiful country is facing in its endeavor to contain inflation, grow the economy and spearhead prosperity for all within the framework of the Malawi 2063.

#PBGDelivers #NLGFC #WorldBank #LocalGovernment #MEM

Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries in Karonga district have expressed excitement over the introduction of E-payment of electronic payment as it will ease walking long distances to get their money.

Speaking Friday at Tirola primary school during the registration of beneficiaries’ particulars on TNM Mpamba, one of the beneficiaries Suzana Mwaungulu said in the past they used to walk long distances to get their money.

She said: “Besides, previously almost everyone in the village knew that beneficiaries were going to receive their money, which increased the chances of being robbed.

“But now no one will know that we have received money from government.”

Principle Social Welfare Officer for Karonga district Tionge Mbale said government has introduced E-payment on Social Cash Transfer in order to reduce some of the challenges the programme was facing such as delayed payment and fraud.

“Since social cash transfer was introduced in 2012 payments have been done manually thereby increasing the risk of theft and human resource from the councils. We want to deal with these challenges,” he said

TNM Mpamba General Manager Christopher Sukasuka said the e-payment is secure and effective.

He said: “Each beneficiary will be protected by a pin number which is only known by the owner of the phone number.

“Further, we assure beneficiaries from areas which experience network challenges that that we will improve the network.”

Sukasuka said they have signed memorandum of understanding with the government to pay the beneficiaries through TNM Mpamba.

He said: “This will allow us to demonstrate the capacity of Mpamba mobile money in offering cash transfer and payment solutions.

“We also take this as an opportunity to play a role in supporting the government’s agenda in spearheading digital financial inclusion.”

Social Cash Transfer programme funded by World Bank has introduced E-payment on pilot phase in Karonga in the North, Nkhota-kota in the center and Blantyre in the South.

Social Cash Transfer Programme is a social protection programme run by government targeting ultra-poor and labour constrained household by granting them support in form of cash transfer.

Story Credits: Andrew Mkonda, District Information Officer, Karonga

SUMMARY OF THE 2022-2023 LOCAL AUTHORITY BUDGET

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Section 149(2) (a)&(d) of the Republican Constitution of Malawi provides mandate to the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) to receive all estimates of revenue and expenditure from all Local Government Authorities and to prepare a consolidated budget. In fulfillment of this constitutional mandate, the National Local Government Finance Committee has consolidated the 2022-2023 budget estimates for all the thirty-five (35) Local Government Authorities in Malawi. The consolidated Local Government Authorities approved budget estimates are presented in two budget documents as follows:

• Consolidated Program Based Budget Estimates

This contains information presented at Program level for each Local Government Authority. It specifies the key results (outputs) to be achieved in the 2022-2023 financial year, what was achieved in the previous financial year(s) and the resources that have been earmarked for implementing functions that will produce those results. Each Local Government Authority uses standardized indicators for reporting results (outputs) to be achieved under each program. The standardization was done to ensure uniformity but also for easy tracking and reporting.

• Consolidated Detailed Budget Estimates

This presents detailed financial budget estimates for all Local Government Authorities (LGA) at Vote, Cost Centre, Programme, Sub Programme and Item level. It includes a consolidated summary of all Local Government Authority votes, summaries by type of LGA and detailed estimates for each LGA.

2.0 The 2022-2023 Local Authority Budget Outlook

The consolidated budget for Local Government Authorities comprises of financial resources from central government transfers and own source revenues. The following is the summary of the budget estimates presented according to the category of the revenue source:

2.1 Central Government Transfers

These comprise of resources from Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT), Development/Capital Budget and Personnel Emoluments. The 2022/2023 LGA budget is estimated at MK 411.01 billion representing a 31% favorable variance over the approved budget of 2021/2022 financial year which was estimated at K282.52 billion. Personal Emoluments comprise a major part of the budget estimated at MK324.86 billion as indicated in figure 1 below:

Figure 1: Composition of the 2022-2023 Central Government Transfers

2.1.1 Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT)

This comprises of devolved sector grants and the General Resource Fund. Currently the following 18 sectors have devolved their functions to Local Governments: Agriculture, Education, Health, Gender, Community Development, Youth, Sports, Housing, Trade, Water, Environment, Forestry, Fisheries, National Registration Bureau, Labour, Immigration, Irrigation and Disaster.

The General Resource Fund is an unconditional grant that is used for implementation of the following:

• Other Recurrent Transaction (ORT) funded activities for Council Secretariat Directorates (e.g. Planning, Finance, Public Works, Administration etc.);
• Councilors’ functions (including payment of honoraria and holding of council meetings); and
• Chief’s expenses.

The overall ORT budget estimates variance is 34% when compared to the 2021/2022 approved nine (9) months budget as indicated in table 1 below. The favorable variance is for the General Resource Fund which has gone up by 60%. The budgets for devolved sectors have a variance of 33% because of the change of government 12month FY from 9months the previous FY while the budget for Education and Health Sector Covid response has not changed.

Table 1: Sector Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) and General Resource Fund (GRF) (MK)

2.1.2 Development Budget

The budget for locally funded projects consists of the District Development Fund (DDF), Constituency Development Fund, Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF), Water Structures Fund and funds for Construction of City Roads (see Table 2 below). As indicated in table 3 below, the total 2022-2023 capital budget has gone up to MK46.13 billion representing a 20% increase from the previous year’s budget of MK37.75 billion. The only fund that has substantially increased is the Constituency Development Fund, which was previously being categorized as ORT.

Table 2: Development Budget

The resources for construction of city roads have been allocated as indicated in Table 3 below:

Table 3: City Roads Construction Fund Approved Projects

2.1.3 Personnel Emoluments

The Personnel Emoluments budget is made up of funds for salaries, leave grants and other allowances for Local Government Authority for central government paid staff and sector staff of Health, Education and Agriculture.  

The Personal Emoluments budget for 2022-2023 is K339.3billion against a total ceiling of K324.9billion. The MK14billion difference is as a result of the inclusion of additional personnel that Councils anticipate to recruit following an authority to fill some of the vacancies by DHRMD.

Table 4: Comparison of Personal Emoluments Estimates (MK)

2.2 Locally Generated Revenues

Locally generated revenues are one of the main sources of financing for Local Government Authorities as provided in section 44(1) of the Local Government Act, 1998. The 2022-23 budget for locally generated revenue has slightly gone up by 23% (27.5 billion) when compared to MK22.31 billion for the 2021-2022 financial year. Table 5 presents a summary of the local revenue budget:

Table 5: Summary of 2022-2023 Budget Estimates for Local Revenue

City Councils contribute the biggest share (75%) to the Local Revenue Budget as indicated in figure 2 below:

Figure 2: 2022-23 Local Revenue Budget by Council Type

3.0 Summary of 2022-23 Budget Estimate for Local Authorities

The following is the summary of 2022/23 budget estimates for Local Government Authorities for the resources that will be spent at Council level. This excludes the estimates for Personal Emoluments which are still spent at central government level.

Table 6: Summary of Council Budget Estimates for 2022/23 Financial Year (MK)

4.0 Other Resources

Local Government Authorities have been allocated other resources that are in the vote of the National Local Government Finance Committee as follows:

4.1 Drug Budget

The drug budget resources are used by the District Hospitals but they are appropriated under the NLGFC Vote. The details in terms of the allocation of the drug budget per district council is presented in table 7 below:

Table 7: 2022-2023 DISTRICT COUNCILS DRUG BUDGET (MK)

4.2 Budget for GESD Performance Based Grant

District Councils will receive an estimated MK11.9 billion for implementation of development projects under the World Bank funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project. The allocation of resources under this project considers performance of councils and the final allocation will be done after finalizing results of the Local Authority Performance Assessment and Triggers. See table 8

Table 8: GESD LAs PGB Ceiling for 2022-2023 Financial Year

5.0 C ONCLUSION

The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) would like to appeal for more support from all stakeholders to the Fiscal Decentralisation process so that coordinated and effective guidance is provided to Local Authorities to enhance accountability and improved service delivery to the communities in the budget implementation process.

Kondwani Santhe, PhD FCCA

ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Annex 1: Local Authority Development Budget For 2022-23 Financial Year (MK)