Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) has expressed concern that ward councillors’ honorarium has remained stagnant at K150 000 in the last four years despite the rising cost of living.
In his remarks on the sidelines of a meeting Malga organised with the parliamentary cluster committees on Local Authorities and Health in Lilongwe last Wednesday, Malga executive director Hadrod Mkandawire questioned why government significantly increased chiefs’ honorarium while ignoring councillors.
He said besides councillors, other council staff members, including district commissioners (DCs) and mayors, are poorly remunerated compared to controlling officers and directors at the central government, which defeats the spirit of decentralisation.
vehicle duty. | Nation
Said Mkandawire: “This tells you how the central government treats local government authorities. Most councillors are struggling and this affects their performance.
“We have DCs and mayors without an official vehicle, but this cannot happen at central government. We need to fix this if we are serious about improving service delivery at local government level.”
In his presentation on behalf of local authorities, Blantyre City Council chief executive Dennis Chinseu asked for consideration to raise the ward councillors’ honorarium to reflect the prevailing economic situation.
He further pointed out the need for government to consider waiving duty on one motor vehicle for each councillor once in every five years “to ease their mobility challenges, particularly for the forthcoming [after September 16 General Election] cohort”.
Said Chinseu: “Government should seriously consider increasing the monthly honorarium for ward councillors, which has been stagnant for over four years despite a number of devaluations during the period.”
He further claimed that the proposed 2025/26 National Budget lacks clarity on whether funds have been allocated to cater for councillors’ gratuity as their term ends ahead of the September General Election.
In an interview, Mchinji South parliamentarian Agnes Nkusa Nkhoma (Malawi Congress Party) described the local authorities’ concerns as pertinent, saying they are worth raising with the Minister of Finance.
“I agree that the honorarium is very small, yet the work the councillors do is a lot. So, it is our duty to lobby for them. On the issue of gratuity, it is not clear how much the councillors will get at the end of their term. We will do our part to seek clarity,” she said.
In a brief response, Treasury spokesperson Williams Banda said gratuity for councillors has been provided for in the proposed budget.
“Councillors’ gratuity is paid through Vote 030 on Pensions and Gratuities, which is provided for accordingly,” he stated.
When government revised the honorarium for councillors to K150 000, perks for parliamentarians jumped by over 100 percent, with their allowances revised to K1.1 million per month on top of a basic salary of K948 640
