By Ousman Kaliati:
Local Government, Unity and Culture Minister Richard Chimwendo Banda has announced a K53 billion disbursement by the government to support Government to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd) initiative.
The funds are also meant for the implementation of the Regional Climate Resilience Programme (RCRP-2) in all local councils in the country.
Of this total, K21 billion has been designated for RCRP-2 while K32 billion has been allocated to Gesd.
During a meeting with district commissioners, councillors, parliamentarians and officials from the ministries of Local Government and Finance, the minister expressed gratitude to the World Bank for its continued support to the Government of Malawi.
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“These projects are made possible by funding from the World Bank, aimed at transforming our local communities,” he said.
Chimwendo Banda urged the National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) to raise public awareness on the dangers of misinformation in the country.
He highlighted that such misinformation could jeopardise donor aid, referencing a recent incident involving false claims regarding the misuse of public funds related to a toilet project, which were later disproven.
“Nice has a crucial role to play in addressing misinformation as it impacts our country’s donor aid. We have faced issues like this recently,” he said.
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transformative impact
Additionally, he praised local councils for their management of public funds and encouraged them to continue with projects funded by the Constituency Development Fund, noting that the court had not ordered a halt to these initiatives.
On his part, Salima District Commissioner James Mwenda hailed his district for coming third on the 2024 Lapa list.
He commended the positive effects of RCRP-2 and governance initiatives on service delivery, saying “there is a transformative impact on the district”.
All 28 districts have qualified for the Performance-Based Grant (PBG) cycle after meeting their Minimum Access Conditions (MACs) and Performance Measures (PMs).
Neno District topped the performance list with a score of 93 percent, followed by Dowa and Nkhotakota at 92 percent.
Salima scored 89 percent while Mchinji (53 percent), Karonga (52 percent) and Chitipa (48 percent) were the lowest performers.
