Malawi 2063-stimulateddecentralisation off track

Malawi 2063 (MW2063)-inspired bid to press the central government to fully devolve power to district councils has railed off track, further derailing the long-standing decentralisation process.

The Nation has seen snippets of National Planning Commission’s (NPC) assessment report of the development blueprints First 10-Year Implementation Plan (MIP-1) progress which depicts as “off track” two areas of focus attached to decentralisation under MIP-1 Enabler 3: Enhanced Public Sector Performance.

The plan is an operationalization strategy of the Malawi 2063 (MW2063) national vision for the period 2021 to 2030.

The two areas sought to “roll out the devolution and decentralisation process in full to allow service delivery that is closer to the people.

NPC spokesperson Thom Khanje in an interview yesterday confirmed the authenticity of the snippets. He said: “That’s an authentic NPC presentation as extracted from the first MIP-1 Annual Progress Report.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda has acknowledged the lack of progress in the devolution.

Blaming it on lack of political will, the minister in an interview, he said that currently they have formulated a decentralisation paper which he believes will speed up the process.

However, Malawi Local Government Association executive director Hadrod Mkandawire observed that government was “moving backwards on fiscal devolution”

“At this stage of our decentralisation, it is regrettable that local government authorities would go for up to four months without financial transfers from the national government.

“However, as a national association of local government authorities, we are of the considered view that we have sufficient policy papers to facilitate meaningful political and fiscal devolution. What has been the gap is high level political will,” he said.