The Ministry of Local Government has appointed Mr. Ben Tohno as Acting District Commissioner for Nkhotakota.

In a memo dated 1^st September, 2021, Secretary for Local Government, Charles Kalemba informs Tohno that the appointment follows the demise of District Commissioner Blessings Nkhoma.

Kalemba says, ‘the appointment is in line with section 11 (a) (2) of the Local Government (Amendment) Act, 2010’.

Speaking in an interview with the NLGFC Newsletter, Mr. Tohno said the appointment while humbling, ‘is an opportunity for residents and investors to work together for development and transformation of the district’.

The appointment is with effect from 1^st September, 2021.

The Parliamentary Committee on Local Authorities in Malawi says the workmanship of abandoned structures for the rural growth centre in Monkey bay is horrible.

The sentiments were made at the end of a tour, end August, of the stalled MK3 billion Monkey Bay Rural Growth Centre project 5 years after its commencement.

Speaking to the NLGFC Newsletter, chair of the Parliamentary Committee, Hon. Horace Chipuwa, Member of Parliament for Lilongwe Mapuyu North bemoaned the visible dereliction of supervision duties by the council and central Government.

He bemoaned the laissez-faire supervisory approach evident through what he termed, ‘horrible and no joy infrastructure’, at huge cost to Malawians.

‘The construction standards are not good. It shows there was no supervision by the local council and probably no coordination between central and local governments’, Chipuwa said.

The committee also expressed displeasure on the still non-operational Monkey bay bus depot which they said had accelerated its dilapidation and subjected it to vandalism.

The rural growth centre works included an abandoned community ground, dilapidated bus depot, Fish drier, rice mill, etc.  

Peter Limbali, the revenue collection officer for the depot asked for increased sensitization to enable users and operators to operate from the depot and in so doing increase revenues for the councils.

In his remarks, member of the Parliamentary Committee, Hon. Chimunthu Banda, said the Mangochi council would do well to learn from other councils such as Nkhotakota which had done what he called a commendable job in increasing locally generated revenue such as the reigning in of taxi operators into designated areas and other vehicle operators to increase the council’s revenue.

‘In Nkhotakota taxi operators now have red number plates which means that yellow and black are reserved for family cars. If you increase enforcement by the Police, the revenue generation increases dramatically’, said Banda.

In his remarks, Mangochi District Commissioner, Raphael Piringu attributed the poor workmanship to absence of involvement of the local authority in the rural growth centre project which is turning into a white elephant.

He bemoaned the fact that despite there being a devolution policy, some sectors were yet to be devolved to local councils.

On increased local revenue generation, the DC informed the parliamentary committee that the council had undertaken learning visits to Balaka, Ntcheu and Dedza to enhance their capabilities on revenue collection, enhancement and efficient utilization of the collected resources. He said they would also visit Nkhotakota.

Ministry of Local Government made a commitment to complete the Monkey bay community ground using Government of Malawi resources as the ADB project which funded the facility had ended.

District Commissioner for Mangochi, Raphael Piringu said the council would engage the Ministry of Local Government to finish the rural growth centre and improve on the shoddy workmanship which the committee had highlighted.

He said as an example, in a different project, the security agents housing units’ project, Mangochi council is at 85% of completion to the satisfaction of central government. He attributed this to the involvement of the local council.

On its part Ministry of Local Government spokesperson Anjoya Mwanza told this paper that the ministry will fulfil this promise as soon as possible despite that it is overwhelmed with current infrastructure projects.

In his remarks, NLGFC’s, Director of Infrastructure and Economic Development, Eng. Paul Chipeta said, ‘the NLGFC had learned from some short comings and if you go to projects now, what we are doing, there is flawless coordination and supervision’.

He also stated that the market and bus depot didn’t go through the defects liability processes because it was done by two different contractors.

Chipeta said the second contractor was not in a position to commit quality assurance on works done by another contractor.

The Parliamentary committee says it will present its findings in a report to Parliament when it is in session with recommendations for redress. The committee says such projects were a ‘pain in the flesh’ to most Malawians.

Similar projects have successfully been undertaken at Malomo in Ntchisi, Jenda in Mzimba and Chitekesa in Phalombe.

KNOW THE LOCAL AUTHORITY PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT (LAPA) TOOL

1.0       LAPA Tool

The Ministry of Local Government through Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project conducted LAPA for 2019/2020 Financial years in November to December, 2020 as a precursor for Performance Based Grant (PBG). The results of the assessment will determine eligibility for and the amount of, the PBG that will supplement the District Development Fund (DDF).

The Local Authority Performance Assessment is a tool that has been designed to help assess the performance of the local authority in wide range is areas including service delivery. The LAPA tool will:

1. Determine whether LAs have the basic capacities/safeguards to manage the development grants (to ensure that before LAs access the PBG they demonstrate basic capabilities and safeguards);
2. Provide fiscal incentives to improve LA performance by rewarding good and penalizing poor LA performance
3. Identify performance gaps and inform the development and implementation of performance improvement plans for LAs; and
4. Provide information that will be used as an input into dialogues and forums regarding enhancing local government financing and institutional performance and service delivery at both the LA and national levels.

2.0       The LAPA tool has three elements/dimensions:

1. Minimum Access Conditions (MACs) which are basic safeguards to ensure proper use of the grants. There are MACs for the Performance Based Grant which determines a LA’s eligibility to access the allocated development funding. The LAs that fails the minimum access conditions will not access the performance-based grant (PBG).  MACs are either on or off (absolute). A LA that will not meet all MACs at the time of the LAPA will forfeit its grant allocation for the coming Financial Year. The LAs that fails MACs will receive performance improvement support to help address the performance gaps identified during assessment.

To be continued

THE NLGFC recently organized a Cyber Security training dubbed “Ethical hacking’ to capacitate its ICT staff and those of selected Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies. This followed continued cyber threats affecting the management of information and ICT equipment in Organizations.

The training was aimed at helping ICT experts build competencies required to anticipate cyber-crime, respond adequately to mitigate risks and control any damages caused due to security breaches.

This will help secure various systems (e.g. Local Council IFMS, UBR, Mthandizi MIS, Social Cash Transfer dubbed ‘Mtukula pa Khomo’ MIS) that NLGFC manages together with its partners / stakeholders.

Speaking to the participants when he graced the occasion, the Executive Director of the NLGFC, Alifeyo Banda said that Cyber security covers not only safeguarding confidentiality and privacy, but also the availability and integrity of data, both of which are vital for the quality and safety of care.

It therefore follows that Cyber-breaches are costly to institutions – in terms of expense, recovery time and also through damage to reputation.

 He therefore warned ICT experts to stay alert and invest their energies in advocating for good practices in the use and management of the limited ICT resources to avoid obvious attacks that come out of lack of knowledge by ICT users.

The training was facilitated by Mzuzu University which is an accredited EC-Council training center

BALAKA district Council says the recent Local Authority Performance Assessment results in which the council scooped number one, has been possible because the council puts in place proper systems by putting relevant people in positions.

Balaka Chairperson Counsellor Patrick Botomani told the NLGFC News that, “working as a team is the tradition of our council, and we have a very vibrant team, despite that we have less resources as Balaka is small, we do not look down on that, we work very hard, we motivate the team that we have, and here we are on position one,” he said.

On his part, District Commissioner Dr. MaCloud Kadammanja told the NLGFC Newsletter that the very first thing that he did when he assumed office was to make sure that the system was up to date and vibrant.

“The Heads of Departments must always do what they came here for, and I always made sure that when we get funding, expenses must be in line with the work plans, which in time help in proper management of the funds,” he added.

The District Commissioner also highlighted that the council is consulting with multiple stakeholders on the District Development Plan (DDP) which was formulated and has the voice of the community.

“The service Committees of the councils also is another area of focus; these committees must be meeting including the Full Council as they help in making decisions unlike in some areas where the DC just sits down with few of his Directors to dictate on an issue.

“The vibrant Civil Society (CSO) network that we have also is helping a lot in shaping the council to be best, as they keep on providing checks and balances wherever necessary,” he said.

On her Part, the Chief Accountant Florence Chindenga, says Balaka District Council is in the process of updating the Quaquinnual Valuation Report QVR and this has already been included in the finance reform areas.

“We want to update the QVR to widen our financial base in terms of property rates, and once the QVR has been updated, we will be able to collect revenue from all the newly constructed structures which are currently not included in the outdated QVR,” she said

The Ministry of Local Government says review of inter-governmental transfer formulae (IGFTF) is long overdue. The remarks were said by the Principal Secretary (Administration) for the Ministry Esmie Kainja (PhD) during the opening session of the consultation review meeting for the intergovernmental formulae session in Blantyre recently.

Kainja said there is public outcry of government transfer of financial resources to match the functions which have devolved to councils. In order to facilitate fiscal discentralisation the Malawi constitution provides a guide on how financial resources are to be granted to councils under section 149 sub-section 2 with a sole consideration to economic, geographical and demographic requirements.

She observed that the introduction of the IGFTF was an effort to strengthen the fiscal transfer system expected to compel government to respond to the need for transferring more resources to local authorities.

Kainja said from an initial K3billion in the 2005/6 fiscal year the size of the budgets had grown to more than K40billion per annum. She said the review would make the formulae efficient and equitable amongst many attributes asking participants to accord the exercise the seriousness it deserves.

In order to enhance financing for councils through government granting and to respond to functions which have develved under health, education, agriculture, gender etc there is a need to match the functions with financing so that councils can respond adequately to service demands.

The review will further address the gap which exists with the current formulae which only responded to two criteria requirements of economic and geographical and bring about balances and other social and economic factors like infrastructure, demographic, poverty levels, terrain amongst others.

The participants were drawn from representatives from; Ministries of Finance, Local Government, Health, Agriculture, Gender, Education; the NLGFC, Local Government Authorities, local governance experts and the media. Santhe further said 'once the formula is reviewed it shall be approved by Parliament according to the constitution, a process which is planned to be through by February 2022.

Its now three months since government through the Ministry of Local Government handed over new constructed Lunzu Market to the community and a visit to the market recently revealed that Vendors have occupied all the spaces and are happy with the new premises.

Many people feared that the market will be another White elephant as it has been a traditional for vendors not relocating to new markets in most areas. However, the story is different with Lunzu Market, as vendors are happy operating inside the market.

Violet Joya, a vegetable seller, says her business is booming because she has a shelter where they operate irrespective of the weather.

"Previously, when we were operating outside the market it was difficult when it was cold, raining or dusty as we were forced to run away since we had no shelter. Now l can proudly say we don't quiver even if it starts raining or anything because as you can see we are in a well protected shelter,” She says.

For Wesley Maloni, ever since they started operating inside the market, they are receiving many customers because all their merchandise is placed at one selling point.

" When we were outside it was difficult for our customers to find us since we were scattered, while nowadays we are all at one selling point and this gives our customers to buy what they want within walking distance of one bench with another," he said.

Mervis Namakalo, who sells fish said the environment inside the market is good as there is very little dust or mud during rain season. " previously, outside the market we had difficulties due to dust that used to spoil our fish but since we started inside we no longer complain of dust and mud," She said.

Chairman of the market, Henderson Ligomeka said vendors are satisfied operating inside the market and says only a few who have failed to secure places inside are the ones still outside.

 " As you can see inside the market there is no longer space as every vendor wants to operate inside. This is what we have been waiting for. Vendors are very happy because of the shades plus toilets and bathrooms. When they are tired they go and have a shower,” he said.

One customer, Josephine Kanga said they like the design inside the market because now it is easy to locate where what they want is without wasitng unnecessary time looking for what you want. " Way back if you want to buy vegetables it was difficult to locate these people but now you go to one place and boom, tht is where they are and much more”, she said.

The More Income and Empowerment in Rural Areas (MIERA) Project under which the new market has been constructed, is also supporting similar market constructions at Sadzi in Zomba, Neno market, Goliati in Thyolo, Dyeratu in Chikwawa, Nkhata Bay and Chinkhoma in Kasungu. The project is run through the facilitation of National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) with support from the Germany Government through KFW Bank.

Malawi Government has commenced disbursements of the third phase payments to the beneficiaries of the Emergency Cash Transfer under the Covid-19 Urban Cash Intervention (CUCI).

The actual payments to CUCI beneficiaries commenced in February 2021 with monthly cash injections of MK35, 000 for three months (January –March 2021).

However, only those that successfully identified themselves in the Know-Your Customer (KYC) received the transfers. “74,150 beneficiaries will be paid during this phase. These beneficiaries were not paid in the past two phases due to the challenges faced with KYC processes and other technical problems.

A further 42,000 beneficiaries who were not paid during the first phase (payment of January and February) will also get their cash in this third phase” said Bessie Msusa, Chief Economist at the department of Economic Plannning and Development.

 CUCI is a government intervention being implemented in low-income semi-urban locations based on the assessment of the cities- socio-economic profiles and household vulnerability levels.

The qualifying beneficiaries are the ultra-poor households who primarily derive their livelihoods from the informal employment and micro trading.

Out of the targeted 199, 613 beneficiary households, the programme has reached to 137,772 beneficiaries in the cities on Blantyre, Zomba. Lilongwe and Mzuzu. The cash transfers are done electronically through mobile money service providers-Airtel Money Commerce Ltd and TNM Mpamba Ltd.

The programme is supported by the Government of Malawi and its cooperating partners including UNICEF, the German Government through the KFW and GIZ, International Labour Organisation, World Food Programme, the Embassy of Ireland, the European Union and the World Bank.

THE 2021/22 Local Authorities’ budget is estimated at MK 282.52 billion. The reflect a 6% decrease when compared to the approved budget of 2020/21 financial year mainly due to the revised government financial year from 12 months in 2020-2021 (July – June) to a transition of 9months (July – March for the April – March thereafter).

In the budget statement presented by Minister of finance Felix Mlusu in the National Assembly, Personal Emoluments (PE) comprise a major part of the budget estimated at MK214.96 billion (76% of budget).

 The budget for Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) is estimated at MK 37.54 billion (13% of budget) and includes the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) estimated at MK 7.72 billion, the General Resource Fund estimated at MK 2.53 billion (1%) and the budget for all devolved sectors estimated at MK 27.29 billion (10%).

The Development Budget is estimated at MK 30.08 billion and comprises of resources for Construction of City roads estimated at MK 23.30 billion, the Borehole and Water Structures fund estimated at MK 2.32 billion, the District Development Fund (DDF) estimated at MK 2.80 billion, Dualization of Chileka –Blantyre Road estimated at MK1.0 billion and the Infrastructure Development Fund estimated at MK 0.61 billion.

In his statement, Mlusu further said on CDF each constituency is allocated MK40 million per year.

According to NLGFC Budget Analyst Jonathan Banda, CDF is used for implementing small projects and other emergencies that occur within the constituencies including rehabilitation of existing infrastructures.

On his part, the Executive Director of National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), Alifeyo Banda appeals for 'more support from all stakeholders to the Fiscal Decentralisation process so that coordinated and effective guidance is provided to Local Authorities to enhance accountability and improved service delivery to the communities in the budget implementation process'

Composition of the Central Government Transfers

Pita Banda, a mother of two in group village head Mbeza in Dowa, does not really remember the last time she had K21, 000 cash at once. She can make money from piecework and get as much as K5000 that is immediately spent on household needs without a significant saving.

While they have a sizeable land for crop production, she confesses that they are into subsistence farming and nothing “serious for sale”.  When the weather is bad or say during drought – they really starve. For Banda, only if she got an opportunity for more money, she would invest it into something else to make her home food secure.  

“When I got selected to participate in the works program from which I could be earning K21, 600 in a month, I felt like I was dreaming. It was too good to be true” she narrated during an interview at her place whose surrounding speaks for itself how it has been improved.

A few meters away from the house there is a heap of harvested maize, which she calculates to be worth 15 bags of 50 kilograms each and can take them through to the next season as a family of four. Besides the maize the chicken, of different sizes, are seen loitering as if to prove her right that she indeed owns them. At a distance, pigs are seen feasting on the feed she had just provided them.

“If you came last year at a time like this one, you would have nothing to see here. I have bought the chickens and pigs through the money I got from the works program. I never had a chance to make such money in my life. For three phases I got K64, 800” she explained with a sense of pride.

Banda is among those enrolled in the government funded  Enhanced Public Works Programme (EPWP) which is being implemented in 10 district councils including her Dowa district.  It is an eight month pilot program which targets ultra-poor households who are engaged in public work.

Banda is among 200 beneficiaries in Tovi catchment area in Dowa who are undertaking a re-afforestation initiative in a 250-hectares of land. So, far they have planted about 40,000 trees and making every effort to conserve these trees in the interest of the community itself.

“The community work for 24 days. The first five days is community contribution and the rest of the days they are paid K21, 600. They have so far received this money for three cycles” explained Julius Thaulo an agriculture extension worker in the area.

Banda’s story mirrors other beneficiaries. Each one of them has a success story to share. It looks like some health competition amongst themselves. Some will talk of how they have managed to improve their housing, others have been able to pay school fees for their wards and indeed some have bought themselves assets such as bicycles for personal use and business.

Hanki Manjulenje from group village headman Kasalika in the same district is another beneficiary whose biggest achievement is her ability to buy new blanket – she always wanted to have.

Recounting her benefits, she said from her first pay she bought the subsidized fertiliser and a bag of maize for food and from the second payment she bought a goat at K18,000.

That is not all she said: “I longed for a South African blanket which comes with a carrier bag. Once I got the third payment I really needed to buy this and indeed I bought it.  I felt embarrassed for lack of better beddings, I now have something worth showing off”.

The pilot EPWP, under the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), was rolled out in September, 2020 run for eight months. Other beneficiary districts are are Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Phalombe and Blantrye.