Project to improve council effectiveness, accountability
The United States Agency for International Development (USaid) has invested $22.9 million (about K16.4 billion) in a project to improve accountability and effectiveness in local councils.
Called Local Government Accountability and Performance (LGAP), the five-year project is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in eight pilot councils out of 35 nationwide.
In his address during a review meeting in Mzuzu on Monday, LGAP technical director Phaniso Kalua said the project seeks to increase local government performance and transparency, strengthen demand for accountable government at local level and improve decentralisation policy environment and systems.
He said: “We are interested in raising the capacity and accountability in councils by involving the local people so that we address anything that stands in the way for the councils to deliver.”
Kalua said the project is being implemented with district officials, civil society organisations (CSOs) and citizens in Balaka, Kasungu, Mulanje, Mzimba, Machinga, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba to give them an understanding of how councils are running their affairs.
At national level, he said the project will engage key government departments and ministries, including Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Department of Human Resource Management and Development and the Office of the President and Cabinet to support councils in the implementation of the Decentralisation Policy.
Malawi developed the Decentralisation Policy and passed the Local Government Act in 1998.
The policy devolves administrative, fiscal, political power and authority to local governments for improved service delivery as well as to empower citizens in communities.
However, despite the country putting councillors into office in May 2014, a Citizen Perception Survey carried out by USaid in the eight districts in May 2017 indicates that most citizens feel that councillors do not represent their views at council level.
Director of local government services in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Sphiwe Mauwa, said the project will address such challenges because they will develop the Local Authority Performance Assessment to rate councils on their performance in service delivery.
Following implementation of the Decentralisation Policy, councils have seen the volume of funds they handle soaring, a development that has raised questions of capacity as fraud and accountability queries have emerged.
The 2015 Tilitonse Fund Report showed that funding to local government councils progressively increased from K3 billion in the 2005/06 financial year to K34.2 billion in the 2015/16 financial year.
