Massive withdrawal of donor aid to the Ministry of Local government and Rural Development has hit hard operations of the ministry, particularly the process of empowering the locals, Principal Secretary Kester Kaphaizi has confirmed.
He spoke yesterday in Lilongwe when Danish ChurchAid and a multi-donor funding basket called Tilitonse launched a K300 million project known as strengthening local governance in Malawi.
Kaphaizi indicated freezing of the aid was withdrawn because government had suspended ward councillors from work. Former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika abolished the existence of local councillors in 2005 despite massive protest by the international community to have them in place.
“We are appealing to the partners who withdrew their support because of lack of councillors to resume their support. In 1998, we had support, but when it was known that we were not going to have councillors, most of them withdrew the support,” said Kaphaizi.
Danish ChurchAid regional representative Christian Balslew Olesen said the launch of the local governance project is one way of strengthening operations of local governance particularly with the coming of councillors in 2014 Tripartite Elections.
“It is a widely shared belief that local governance is central to harnessing sustainable development, poverty reduction and economic prosperity since it ensures the rule of law at the local level.
“The absence of local democracy promotes bad governance and in turn stifles and impedes local development.” he said.
