National News

Nkhata Bay MPs opt to partition development budget

Nkhata Bay members of Parliament (MPs) have decided to distribute K119 million meant for district infrastructure to constituencies.

The decision, agreed at a full council meeting last week, has resulted in major developmental projects meant for the whole district suffering.

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Nkhata Bay District(in the background) denied major development by MPs

During the meeting, the district development committee (DDC) proposed projects they felt had to be prioritised, but the MPs rejected the proposals, citing the council’s earlier decision where constituencies were allocated K16 million each and were mandated to prioritise activities to be carried out, as ideal.

Nkhata Bay central constituency MP Raphael Mhone called the change of direction by the DDC confusing.

He said: “We should have been communicated to of the change in advance so that we could consult our constituents as we did when we were told to prioritise projects at constituency level.”

In her remarks, Minister of Youth Development and Sports Grace Chiumia urged the council to devise a special allocation from the same budget in future to be used for major district projects.

She said: “Let us strive to develop the district as a whole and not these small development projects we have agreed to here.”

Among the rejected proposed district projects are a boys’ hostel at Bandawe Boys Secondary School, a water-front bar as well as the transformation of the existing council rest house into a better lodging facility to enhance revenue collection. n

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