Politics of chiefs

Councils in the country are perpetually struggling with funding to deliver services to the public. But would they say they do not have money when time comes for them to buy a fridge which some politician in power wants to present to a chief during installation even if sectors such as health, education and other fundamental public works are crippled?

In Malawi, politicians will always want to be associated with chiefs and lavish them with gifts during some ceremonies.

But it is the councils that bear the brunt of some of this politicking, especially when it comes to buying gifts which some politicians in power hand out to a chief during ceremonies such as installations and elevations.

Through random interviews with authorities at nine district councils, we have learnt that when government officials such as the President and Minister are conducting installations or elevations of a chief where various gifts such as refrigerators are splashed, it could be that it is the council that has purchased the items, although they come through as if purchased by an individual government official.

“Those gifts you see being given to chiefs during installations are done by the responsible council at that time. And to be honest, that is not supposed to be the case but we are forced to make things work for politicians,” said one source.

Of course, councils have what is called chiefs’ budget. But it is not clear whether politicians are also supposed to tap into the same resources for their politicking with chiefs, worse so because the allocation into the budget is hardly adequate, according to the councils.

“We have what we call chiefs’ budget but the allocation towards this budget is not enough to sustain all activities in the year,” said another District Commissioner.

“In my case, usually, the money is enough for one installation function. And there a lot of things that the money is supposed to carter for at that event.

“When we finish the allocation we have to borrow internally to run some of the chiefs’ activities. This obviously has a bearing on our already strained budget but the cycle goes on year in year out,” said the source.

Others sources said when they borrow internally, it does not mean that Treasury will make refunds to that effect.

“You would think Treasury would make considerations and reimburse. The council does a lot that is not budgeted for,” said another.

Executive Director for Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) Hadrod Mkandawire confirmed these reports.

“I can confirm that it indeed happens. And these things happen when councils are very much underfunded, sometimes not funded at all. This puts pressure on local revenue collections that the councils do because they still have to perform some of these activities,” Mkandawire said.

He added: “Chiefs are important in the development of local councils. They play a huge role in the society such that no one can downplay the work they do.

“We hope that in this coming financial year, there will be an increase in financial requirements including the allocation that goes to chiefs. That would probably help to solve some of the problems if the money is indeed put to the right use,” he said.

Michael Kaiyatsa of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Willie Kambwandira of Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) called on review of the allocation into the chiefs’ budget so that it does not affect other activities.

“The implication is very clear that councils will continue to operate on hand to mouth if the situation is that of borrowing to fix another arm of its operations. Government must come up with a solution that will stabilise the operations of the council,” Kambwandira said.

On the other hand, Kaiyatsa said government needs to understand that development at local levels relies on funding from the councils.

“It is very a sad development because what it [low funding] means is that their operations are affected. Development starts at council level and spreads across,” he said.

However, as per previous reports on funding to councils, increasing funding is one thing, while disbursing it is another.

In December, we reported that councils across the country had gone seven months of receiving funding in drips and in arrears.

From June 2023, councils across the country had been operating on erratic funding disbursement for the Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) and General Resource Fund (GRF).

These are two funding pockets that are critical in ensuring smooth operations and delivery of services in the local government system.

The development had led to them to taking loans to run operations of the councils.

Currently, according to Mkandawire, councils have debt arrears amounting to about K18 billion.

Minister of Local Government Richard Chimwendo Banda did not pick up our calls on several attempts.

In Malawi’s decentralization structure, councils are the hubs of service delivery to the rural areas where more than 80 percent of Malawians live.