Chiefs want Kalondolondo to assess govt officials

Kalondolondo Programme, an initiative that tracks down the implementation of Malawi government projects, has been challenged to assess top government officials in the implementation of the Farm
Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp).

The Kalondolondo assessment on the access and quality of the delivery of Fisp in Karonga done by a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), Future Planning for the Child, exposed that chiefs onopolise the selection of beneficiaries.

States the report: “Eight-three percent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with how beneficiaries of Fisp for 2012/13 farming season were selected.”

However, village head (VH), Amon Mwakasungula, reacting to the findings at an interface meeting in Karonga on Wednesday, said Kalondolondo leaves out real culprits in the much talked about irregularities in the Fisp exercise.

He said: “We have heard of fertiliser being mixed with sand. Individuals behind this were not ordinary people, but rather ‘big’ people, who are never investigated.”

Kalondolondo programme manager Jephter Mwanza agreed that their project is short of mechanisms to track down top officials.

“For us to assess how funds have been used might not be easy because people forge receipts but cannot forge a service,” he said,” he said.

Kolondolondo is a consortium of Plan Malawi, ActionAid and Congoma.