‘The proposed provision allocates all the powers including disciplinary process of the DC and CEO to the minister
In the corners of Parliament is lurking a bill that will emasculate District Commissioners and other local government authorities while concentrating powers on the minister responsible, Malawi News has learnt.
The Local Government Amendment Bill (2024) is under preparation for presentation in Parliament. It is not clear whether it will tabled in the current sitting or at later sessions.
But its contents are ruffling the feathers of governance institutions and experts who see it as sharp reversal of the decentralization policy.
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Among others, the bill seeks to remove the mandate of the Local Government Services Commission from handling disciplinary processes related to District Commissioners (DCs) and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of councils and hand over those powers in to the minister.
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Malawi Government Association (Malga) Executive Director Hadrod Mkandawire described the bill as undermining decentralisation in many ways.
“The proposed provision allocates all the powers including disciplinary process of the DC and CEO to the minister. We all know that a minister is a politically appointed position so to vest powers in such a position is retrogressive if we are to advance decentralisation.
“Secondly, there is the amendment of Section 14 of the Principal Act which provides that a Council shall establish an Area Development Committee [ADC] in each ward. At this stage of decentralisation, we should not be organising our local government structures under traditional structures. In addition, establishment of ADCs prejudices urban councils where traditional structures do not legally exist,” he said.
According to Mkandawire, during consultations over the bill, the association among others recommended that each council should be employing its own staff including DC and CEOs with technical support from the Local Government Services Commission.
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“We also suggested that there should be ward development committees and not Area Development Committees in the Act,” he said.
He said the proposed provision in question undermines section 147 (4) of the Constitution which envisages that the Local Government Act shall provide all local government service functions and powers to the Local Government Service Commission and not any other office.
In an interview on Tuesday, Minster of Local Government Richard Chimwendo Banda refused to comment on the matter. He said the bill has not discussed at cabinet level.
“I have nothing to say on that,” he said.
But Michael Kaiyatsa of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Willy Kambwandira of Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) have also described the amendment as a step backwards in the implementation of decentralisation.
“Elements that we are trying to give powers to a minister mean a politically appointed person will be controlling the councils. This is a retrogressive and it is not in tandem with the spirit of decentralisation that aims at deepening how the local people participate in affairs at that level,” Kaiyatsa said.
Kambwandira said these reservations should be resolved.
“We are seriously worried with the central government’s appetite to usurp powers over local government authorities. This must be condemned in the strongest terms,” he said.
Malawi adopted the Decentralisation Policy in 1998.
The policy is meant to ensure district councils are central in implementing local governance and development agenda.
