Goodall blasts sluggish MZ City Council

Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe has said Mzuzu City Council is slow in ultilising development funds.

Gondwe said this during this year’s pre-budget consultations in the city.

He was reacting to Mzuzu City Mayor William Mkandawire’s concerns that the city is not getting enough funds to complete ongoing projects, including the upgrading of roads and procurement of refuse trucks as it currently has one skip carrier.

But Gondwe said: “Allow me to say that the problem is that you are rather slow to use money. Funds flow according to what you have done. The quicker you are, the more they flows.”

In an interview, Mzuzu chief executive officer McCloud Kadam’manja said the minister had “just generalised the whole situation”.

“In Mzuzu City, we are not slow. Actually, the opposite is true, but we are short of funds,” he said.

Kadam’manja said the council seldom receives the funds it requests from the Treasury. n