MDAs suspend operations over funding
Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have suspended delivering some of its social services to the people because government is failing to provide them with funding, The Nation has established.
Spot checks with district commissioners (DCs) nationwide confirmed that that operations have indeed ground to a halt as the Treasury is not releasing funding.
DC for Phalombe Harry Phiri confirmed that they have suspended essential services/operations except those in the health sector “because this borders on the lives of people”.
But Phiri indicated that even the health sector is not receiving adequate funding as reflected in the October 2016 allocation where barely half its budget was released.
He said this has crippled service delivery.
A highly placed source in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development confirmed the development in an interview on Monday.
The source said government is facing serious challenges to collect adequate resources to finance operations of the MDAs.
“The situation is very dire at the moment. I can’t even describe it. We don’t even know when funds will be released,” said the source.
Treasury spokesperson Nations Msowoya yesterday confirmed the delay in funding the MDAs.
But Msowoya refused to comment much on the issue, emphasising that government was working towards addressing the problem.
