Community meetings crucial for good governance—Nice

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust says community meetings are important in promoting good governance as they provide citizens with an opportunity to engage duty bearers and service providers on matters that affect them.

Nsanje district civic education officer Kondwani Malunga said this last weekend on the sidelines of a meeting his organisation coordinated in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Ngabu in the district.

“We feel that one of the ways of promoting good governance is to coordinate these community meetings which are crucial in national development.

“This is the reason we invited the service providers such as district health officer, police officer-in-charge, district education manager, among others, so that they respond to the community’s grievances,” he said.

Ngabu Citizen Forum chairperson Stanley Kum’bwemba said the area is experiencing challenges in the health, education and security sectors.

He said: “We have been asking the police to establish a unit and deploy officers. We built two police houses 10 years ago, but we still do not have a police unit.”

Nsanje Police Station criminal investigations officer John Timbenawo assured the communities that once they build an office, police officers will be deployed. n