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)

The Government of Malawi has applied for Additional Financing (AF) from the International Development Association (IDA) to cover the financing gap as well as scale up coverage of core components of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP). The total budget for the additional financing is US$ 175 million.

In line with this application, the Government of Malawi has updated the Environmental and Social Safeguards instruments of the SSRLP for the additional financing. These includes; Labour Management Procedures (LMP), Draft Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), and  Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) for the expected  Additional Financing, The documents are available on NLGFC website via the link Publications (nlgfc.gov.mw)are hereby disclosed to the public.  

The Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) is a US$142 million grant from the World Bank. The SSRLP runs 2020 to 2025. The project development objective is to improve resilience among the poor and vulnerable populations and strengthen the national platform for safety nets.

SSRLP was originally appraised with a pre-existing financing gap. The financing gap was identified in the Improving Social and Economic Inclusion component which focuses on the consolidation of an appropriate package of support for beneficiary households with a mix of program interventions including social cash transfers, livelihoods support, and climate smart/enhanced public works, as well as an option for scalable financing in time of crisis.

Troubled and challenged with raising and providing for their children’s well-being, female headed households have found solace in the government's social cash transfer program which is locally known as ‘Mtukula Pakhomo’.

Ellen Kayenda, a 36 year old mother of 3 who was dumped by her husband at a time her last born child was critically ill, is full of praises for the program saying it has transformed her life for the better.

“I received K18,000.00 during my very first month on the program of which K10,000 I used to buy a pig and the rest I used to buy some household and children’s needs”.

“The pig delivered 10 piglets. I sold the pig and 8 piglets and remained with two. I used the proceeds to start building a proper house for myself and the children. I also started a maize selling business apart from joining village savings and loans group,” said Kayenda.

To date, she is proud to say she owns a number of livestock’s including goats and chickens.

Through her business, she is now able to support her children, with one currently in secondary school.

50 year old Velentina Yona, single mother of 4, boasts how Social Cash Transfer has changed her life from doing piece jobs to becoming a successful tea room owner at Kalonga Trading Centre, Traditional Authority Kabudula in Lilongwe.

She says on a good day, she is able to make about K8, 000.00 which she uses to support her children, one which is physically challenged.

“I have been on this program for three years now and my life is not the same. I now have chickens, goats and also pigs at home apart from the tea room business that I am into.”

“I used to move around in people’s fields doing piece works but I stopped when I was enrolled on this program because now I am able to provide for myself and my children,” she said.

Aarnord Mndolo, Social Welfare Officer responsible for cash transfer in Lilongwe says there has been significant progress in improvement of people’s livelihoods in the district since the program’s inception in 2018.

He says, over 60 percent of the beneficiaries are now self-dependent and will possibly be able to graduate when their time is due.

“We always make an emphasis to the beneficiaries as they receive the cash that the money has to be used for the intended purposes which is to increase school enrolment of children from these families, improve their nutritional status and also empowering them into venturing into businesses for the betterment of their general livelihood,” said Mndolo.

The government of Malawi’s social cash transfer program is an unconditional transfer targeted to ultra-poor and labor constrained households.  

18 out 22 Traditional Authorities in Lilongwe are benefiting from the program which World Bank is supporting in the district through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

Story Credit: Nelly Kapatuka-District Information Officer, Lilongwe

Bisiyoni Mteteya’s productive life came to a screeching halt in 1998 when he lost his sight.

The 90-year-old man, who lives in Jordan Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Lundu in Blantyre, says life became tough as he could not do piecework to support his four-member household.

With a broken heart, he says the situation ripped his home to debilitating poverty.

“I was the breadwinner,” recalls Mteteya. “But the foul play-related blindness immediately affected my abilities to provide basic needs for my family and educate children. We lost our possessions like goats and chickens because my mentally-challenged wife could not manage them.”

The father of two children says since then, they have lived in dire conditions.

The nonagenarian says his family experienced perennial hunger as he could not do any farming activity.

He says: “I was the only one producing our food. Even if people helped us to grow maize, we failed to harvest enough on the barren field due to lack of money to buy fertilisers, among other challenges.”

Over the years, they have been surviving on alms from well-wishers in the neighbourhood.

“Most days we could stay on an empty stomach or just a meal a day, depending on availability of well-wishers,” he recounts.

However, from 2018, the household’s living conditions begun to improve. Not only do the Mteteyas eat three meals a day, they consume well-balanced diets.

The family also achieves food security as it affords to buy fertilisers and hire farm labourers.

The Mteteyas no longer wallow in extreme poverty.

The old man credits the strides made to a government-led Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) under Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) being implemented through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

Bankrolled by the World Bank, the programme provides monthly cash grants to 7 897 ultra-poor and labour-contrained households to eliminate debilitating poverty in the district.

As one of the poor, Mteteya was enrolled in the programme in 2018. He was receiving K7 200 until December 2021. He now gets K10 000 monthly.

“The amount may be seen as small change, but it has contributed to our improved living conditions. We no longer starve. I saved some from the grants and ventured into livestock and poultry production (seven goats and chickens). We are escaping poverty,” he says.

Blantyre District Council social cash transfer coordinator Dumisani Maona is pleased that the intervention is reducing poverty.

“It is exciting to note that beneficiaries are becoming food secure and acquiring assets. The intervention is on right track, helping beneficiaries to have improved nutrition, health, school enrolment and shelter in the district,” he says.

Mteteya asks government to increase the payment to fast-track his dream of living in an improved modern shelter.

Contributor: Temwa Mhone

Director of Local Government Services in the Ministry of Local government, Richard Hara has challenged the media in the country to engage an extra gear in reporting issues of local governance.

Hara made the call on Wednesday in Salima when he opened an orientation for journalists on Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) guidelines organised by the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

He said it is not pleasing to see that journalists concentrate on reporting on other issues leaving behind issues of governance unreported despite having many success stories on the ground.

“There is a whole series of success stories and progress that never makes it into mainstream media. This is sad and I hope with this orientation media shall become our ambassadors to the nation,” said Hara.

He added: “Indeed, if one browses much of media content in this country one may find limited positive coverage of local government content. I am hopeful we are turning the page with this orientation.”

The Director pointed out that much as the ministry values the relationship they have with the media and the critical role it plays in communicating vital messages to the people in the local governments, there is still more that the media can do in enlightening communities on issues of local governance through dissemination of the right information to them.

“You may wish to know, that media due to absence of such interfaces, has at times not performed their duties objectively leading to misinformation or poor quality messaging or even lack thereof, particularly on media coverage pertaining to fiscal decentralisation and financial management issues. Our hope is that the orientation will address these issues,” he said.

Commenting on the development, Acting Executive Director of NLGFC Dr Kondwani Santhe said the committee looks at the media as a resource for information dissemination to the rural masses.

“We need communities out there to know what GESD is all about and probably take part in ensuring that there is smooth implementation of such projects in their areas.”

One participant Themba Mwale of Voice of Livingstonia radio who is also executive member of MISA Malawi said through the expertise gained through the workshop, he will be able to follow up with respective councils on the adherence to the indicators and triggers that eventually enable councils to secure GESD funds.

He said: “As watchdogs of the society, we will now be able to engage councils from a point of knowledge, to ensure the fulfilment of the minimum access conditions and triggers. These include ensuring that they have audited accounts, the required personnel and other requirements.”

Mwale added that the orientation has given the media a useful resource that will now help them provide checks and balances to development projects under GESD as well as District Development Fund (DDF).

During the orientation, a media network on governance to enable service delivery reporting was formed with Patrick Botha of Malawi News Agency elected President and Eunice Ndhlovu of MBC Secretary General.

Reported by Grace Kapatuka

Board chair of the National Local Government Finance Committee Commissioner Richard Chapweteka has urged Blantyre District Council to ensure that service to its residents is raised to the expectation of its people.

Chapweteka said this during a consultative meeting between the board and the district council in Blantyre. He said time had come for all players on the ground to move towards the same direction so that residents of the council also benefit from developmental projects funded by the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) as is happening to other councils.

Chapweteka then warned the council to desist from reference to theories on their failure to access the first phase disbursement of the GESD resources.

The Board chair said all councils are assessed using similar tools in terms of financial compliance and performance urging it to focus on its efforts to do well as there was no room to change or provide different opinions than those on the ground.

In her remarks, the chairperson for Blantyre District Council, Councilor Sigere Pemba bemoaned issues which had led to her council’s failure to access the GESD resources.

‘I hope that this meeting will help us get positioned and ready to effectively work for the expectation of our people. We hope too that though we failed to qualify for the LAPA results can be remedied’.

The consultative meeting targets four councils namely Thyolo DC, Blantyre DC, Mchinji DC and Nkhotakota DC which failed to meet the minimum access conditions to trigger qualification to access the added funds for the district development plans through the GESD project.

Kasungu, January 10: Burdened by different responsibilities among them taking care of grandchildren, the elderly in Kasungu have found solace in governments social protection programme, Social Cash Transfer (SCT) popularly known as Mtukula Pakhomo.

Ekisilida Mwase, 74, of Lodjwa in Sub Traditional Authority Chisikwa in Kasungu is taking care of a family of eight together with her old aged husband, despite some problems they have managed to get through with SCT.

"Four years ago I used to struggle to find means of sending my six grandchildren to school of which two are in secondary school and finding food to eat was also a problem because we could not find enough fertilizer,

After being introduced to the social cash transfer programme four years ago things have changed as I am able to send the children to school, we have enough food and above all we also have goats that we are keeping thanks to the programme," said Mwase.

Grain House Cluster SCT Committee Secretary Christopher Banda said the programme has supported most elderly headed families who now are able to buy fertilizers, renovate their shelter and most of all send children to school.

Social Welfare Officer at Kasungu District Council Raphael Chitete said the programme has supported elderly headed families among others like chronically ill, disability and child headed families.

Story Credits: Vincent Khonje, District Information Officer, Kasungu