Lgap hailed for market fee collection progress

Lilongwe District Council (LDC) has  hailed Local Government Accountability and Performance  (Lgap) project for rewarding market personnel for good performance in market fees collection.

LDC chairperson John Kamanga  and director of finance Charles Mhone said the project has increased market fees collection by adopting mobile money transfer facilities in March  this year.

“Today, our market  revenue collectors are able to deposit their collections everyday through Airtel Money unlike in the past when they would only deposit fortnightly with commercial banks,” said Mhone.

On his part, Kamanga appealed to Lgap to consider infrastructure development which he said was a challenge in Lilongwe markets.

“We urge other markets to follow Lgap advice if their service delivery is to improve,” he said.

Kamanga said Kamphata, Kabudula and Mitundu markets were the best performers since Lgap introduced the electronic money transfer.

Winning revenue collector for Mitundu Market, Edward Tengeletu, who went away with a mattress, said the reward will motivate him to work harder.

With financial support from USAid, UKaid, DfID and the Malawi Government, Lgap is working in eight districts councils of M’mbelwa,  Kasungu, Lilongwe,  Machinga, Balaka, Zomba, Blantyre and Mulanje to sustainably increase local revenue through market fee collections. Winning markets and revenue collectors will be rewarded monthly. n