Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri has decried the decaying situation in local councils, saying “there is so much corruption” which needs to be nipped in the bud.
The minister, who is visiting councils in the Northern Region since Saturday and has been to Rumphi, Chitipa and Karonga, said he observed a growing tendency of corruption which is leading to poor service delivery.
Phiri said he noted that those tasked to collect taxes on motor vehicles in councils were in some cases issuing already stamped receipts, a trend he said was hurting the taxpayer.
a trend. | Nation
He said: “I have discovered that this is a trend. And this has come from the taxpayers themselves, where at some point they would even take the fake receipts to the council. We deprive our citizens of proper development.
“It discourages the taxpayers from even paying more, because they can’t see the value of their taxes. When citizens see the value of their taxes, they’re willing to pay more. But when they don’t see the value, forget about it, they’re not going to pay.”
To address the shortcomings, Phiri ordered the councils to migrate to electronic ticketing (e-ticketing) by March 31 next year.
He said: “We are living in a digital world now. And once we do that, you know the revenue collection will go up. There is a new sheriff in town. Watch and see. One of my key plans is to see corrupt free councils.
“We are signing MoUs with all councils in liaison with the Anti-Corruption Bureau [ACB] in Malawi to make sure that we operate a corrupt free council. And no transfers, and I repeat, no transfers for officers who are corrupt in our district.”
In a written response, Malawi Local Government Association executive director Hadrod Mkandawire agreed with the minister that just like in other public institutions, corruption exists in councils.
He said: “For now, the perception by the general public is that corruption is rife in the councils, this might be a yardstick the minister is using to qualify the levels of corruption in the councils.
“As regards the decision to hold the offices accountable rather than shielding them through transfers, is the policy directive that we fully support, this is the way to go if we are to hold our officers in the local government service accountable for their actions.”
Malawi has slowed down in efforts to fight corruption in the past three years, with the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) showing that since 2022, the country has maintained its score at 34 points, but has only been moving up on ranking.
