Financial prudence catalyst for quality service delivery—official

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has said district councils can serve the communities better if they adhere to financial discipline.

The ministry’s deputy director, Douglas Mkweta, made the remarks on Friday at Chiradzulu Boma during a two-day networking workshop for councillors, chiefs, members of Parliament (MP) and public servants.

“The resource envelope is shrinking each passing day. But local government system allows communities to demand and access services that are needed for the improvement of their livelihoods.

“As such, the little we get from government, donor community and local revenue sources should be used prudently to provide quality services to the community,” he said.

Of late, a number of district councils have been caught up in financial mismanagement leading to interdiction of some officers.

Mkweta has since urged district councils to explore more avenues of generating local revenue to supplement what they get from government, donors and non-governmental organisations.

“District councils have the task of deciding how to mobilise resources to ensure that their development plans are implemented with few challenges,” he said.

Most district councils heavily rely on markets as their main source of revenue. But poor rains the district is experiencing might affect crop production, leading to poor revenue collection as well.

During the training, participants were introduced to the local government system, guidelines for local authority business and development planning system in Malawi.

In his remarks, district commissioner for Chiradzulu Ali Phiri commended the ministry for organising the workshop, saying it would help to sharpen skills of council officials in managing financial resources.

The workshop was organised by Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) in conjunction with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development—Mana