PS says councils welcome performance barometer
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Kiswell Dakamau has said the launch of the Local Authority Performance Assessment (Lapa) will be a game changer in councils’ service delivery in the country.
He made the remarks in Lilongwe last week on the sidelines of the Lapa launch at the Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc).
Said Dakamau: “In this baseline study we want to confirm the state of prudent public financial management and service delivery. Through it, we will be able to detect what individual councils are doing in serving the public.
“Councils that will be doing well will have their budgetary allocation increased while those that do not perform well will be incentivised to do better.”
Speaking to Mana on the sidelines of the launch, Ntchisi district commissioner James Manyetera hailed the project, saying it will help the council serve the public well.
He said: “For councils to deliver, there is need for this guiding tool. This will help us monitor progress well as [it will give] us direction so that we improve even before the actual assessment is done as stipulated in the Local Government Act.”
Lapa intends to enhance service delivery by promoting transparency, accountability and responsiveness among local authorities through enhancing citizen’s engagement.
The project was launched by Local Government Accountability Performance (LGAP) and is being implemented with financial assistance from USAid and DfID. n
