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MPs disagree with council on projects

Two members of Parliament (MPs) in Balaka have accused the district council of allocating few projects to their constituencies.

The legislators—Tony Ngalande (Balaka North) and Ireen Mambala (Balaka South)—expressed the sentiments on Monday during a full district council meeting to endorse projects to be financed by World Bank’s Grant Enabling Service Delivery (GESD).

The grant in question is worth K210 million which Balaka District Council received for its best performance in 2020.

But during the meeting, Ngalande (Malawi Congress Party) rejected to endorse the projects.

Ngalande: The allocations have been revised

His counterpart, Mambala (Democratic Progressive Party) also faulted the council for allocating K40 million to buy maternity equipment when it is already funded by District Development Fund (DDF).

She said: “Why don’t they use the grant money for different projects and continue to use the DDF for the maternity equipment?”

In an interview after the meeting, Ngalande said he represents over 50 000 constituents.

He said: “So, when I noticed attempts to shortchange them, I couldn’t control my tamper.

“Balaka North was initially allocated K14 million for a bridge project which has now been revised upwards to over K50 million to cater for a resource centre and market improvement.”

However, Balaka District Council development committee chairperson Michael Sauka said the World Bank grant will fund seven projects only.

“The confusion was due to misunderstanding of GESD guidelines which stipulate that only projects reflected in the village action committees [VAC] in the district should benefit,” he said.

Balaka has four constituencies.

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