Nice for project accountability

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust in conjunction with Local Government says there is need for different stakeholders to join hands in following up implementation of government projects in Karonga.

Karonga Nice district civic education officer Christabel Munthali said this on Tuesday in the district when she introduced Public Expenditure Tracking project to district executive committee members and stakeholders.

“Stakeholders and community members should be in the forefront checking how projects are being implemented in their areas because such projects are funded by people’s taxes,” she said.

Munthali said the project seeks to curb alleged corruption on District Development Fund (DDF) and Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“You will agree with me that if we started this initiative sometime back, most districts would have registered significant development,” she said.

In his remarks, Karonga district finance officer Andrew Mhango said the initiative will bring transparency and accountability on projects in district councils.

Said Mhango: “The initiative will also bring back public trust in councils.

“However, there is need to conduct awareness campaigns among community members on the initiative to avoid misinterpretation.”

One of the participants, Jamiton Kantombera, said the initiative will help people in rural areas to hold duty-bearers accountable for public-funded projects.

“The initiative will help us to express our thoughts on projects taking place in our areas. It has also changed our mindset that government-funded projects are only supervised by government officials,” he said.

Public Expenditure Tracking Project is being implemented in Mulanje, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Nkhata-Bay and Karonga districts as well as Mzuzu City.