Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development says local government authorities (LGAs) have a 72 percent vacancy rate, a development analysts have described as an institutional crisis crippling service delivery.
In random interviews yesterday, stakeholders expressed worry that the situation could negatively affect devolution of resources to LGAs in the face of the K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocations from April 2026 which requires good capacity.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri, speaking in an interview on Tuesday after visiting councils in the Northern Region, said he noted that most of the councils were operating with acting personnel as most directorates have no heads.
He said: “That is very dangerous because as a ministry that is charged to deliver services to the people, you need to have probably a 28 percent vacancy rate. Where we sit now, it is not right.
“The Ministry of Finance said no more recruitment [as part of austerity measures], but we are seeking a waiver. We have made our case to allow us as we look at devolving the resources, which are huge, to look at a number of things. Not only filling the vacancies, but filling it with the right human resource.”
Phiri said the ministry was also looking at minimising risks with finances by capacitating existing personnel in the LGAs.
“We are capacitating the councils to make sure that they have got the ability to handle this money with the oversight responsibilities of legislators and councillors, including owners of the land-the people and chiefs,” he said.
In a written response yesterday, National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Public Trust executive director Grey Kalindekafe said the present situation in LGAs makes the balance between fiscal discipline and effective service delivery delicate.
But he said through redeployment, capacity building and strengthened oversight, councils can continue to fulfil their mandate, including managing CDF which will total K1.44 trillion per year.
Said Kalindekafe: “High vacancy rates pose risks such as weak internal controls due to the absence of substantive directors and finance officers, reduced oversight capacity that increases vulnerability to misallocation or misuse of funds and delayed project implementation as councils may lack technical staff to appraise, monitor, and evaluate projects.”
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira described the 72 percent vacancy rate as an institutional crisis, saying: “A blanket hiring freeze is counterproductive when the system is already hollow. Obviously releasing billions into councils that lack qualified staff is a high risk governance scenario.”
He described the crisis as ‘man-made’ resulting from years of neglect, politicisation of recruitment, weak human resource planning and chronic underinvestment in local government systems.
Malawi Local Government Association executive director Hadrod Zeru Mkandawire acknowledged the challenges in an interview, saying that the local government service lacks incentives to attract and retain the best talent on the market.
He said the high vacancy rate is over-stretching the current staff compliment, and, this may contribute to low performance outcomes.
The decision to freeze employment, announced as part of austerity measures to contain Malawi’s growing wage bill, comes at a time when public finances are under intense strain following years of expenditure overruns and domestic borrowing.
In the 2025/26 National Budget, government projected wages and salaries to rise to K1.53 trillion, an equivalent of 5.9 percent of the gross domestic product, including K10 billion for recruitment and K176 billion for salary adjustments.
For years, the capacity of local councils to manage public funds has come under the spotlight.
In June this year, financially-crippled LGAs were given up to June 30 2025 to refund K1.3 billion to the World Bank for failing to account for the same under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods project while in 2023, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament expressed worry over capacity challenges in the country’s district councils where many people in key positions were in acting capacity.
On the other hand, a 2015 Tilitonse Fund Report also found that local councils faced numerous queries bordering on fraud and accountability of funds.
