Malga bitter over flopped councillors’ loans
Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) has expressed disappointment over government’s failure to provide K462 million (about $737,281) for ward councillors to buy motorcycles to ease their mobility.
When the 462 ward councillors came into office after the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections, government pledged to provide them loans of K1 million each to buy the motorcycles.
However, during the launch of the second phase of dissemination of local governance documents in Mzuzu yesterday, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa said the loans were not provided for in the 2015/16 National Budget; hence, government cannot disburse them.
The minister said government is working to include the loans in the budget during the Mid-year Budget Review in February or in the new budget due on July 1 2016.
But Nankhumwa’s explanation did not amuse Malga president Samson Chaziya who accused government of not being honest on the issue.
He said ward councillors have lost patience and urged government to resolve the matter.
Chaziya said councillors face mobility problems, which are negatively affecting discharge of their duties.
In an interview later, Nankhumwa said he referred the issue to President Peter Mutharika who directed the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development to source the funds. n
