Malawi is not short of scandals when it comes to public financial mismanagement.
From negligence to corruption, indignities of all sizes have been reported from both the central to local governments, crippling public service delivery.
Aware of this mischief National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) public trust facilitated the formation of Khwidzi Citizen Forum in Traditional Authority T/A Ndindi, Salima District, to entrench a culture of participating in public life and demanding accountability.
The forum has become a crucial eye and ear of its community, ensuring that the rural population gets value for money allocated for public use.
Formed 10 years ago, Khwidzi Citizen Forum tracks public spending from the source to the implementation of projects, cracking down on fraud and mismanagement so much that it yields the desired objectives.
“For instance, we pushed for construction of a toilet at Khwidzi Market, which lacked sanitation facilities even though authorities collecting market fees every day” says forum chairperson Chisomo Faili.
Their work went beyond watching over public projects but also demanding better services at every stage.
“A contractor was identified to construct a toilet, but we were shocked to learn that 15 bags of cement had been used even though the project was far from completion,” he says. Currently, they are pushing for construction of shops and benches at the market where some sell their goods on bare grounds.
In their line of duty, they question service providers for substandard delivery and investigate possible financial mismanagement for evidence-based advocacy.
According to the community-based forum, their investigation showed that the contractor used less cement than reported to Salima District Council, leading to termination of contract.
Khwidzi Citizen Forum secretary Dorothy Tchothokhwa says one primary schools in the rural locality misappropriated development funds and the forum tracked the spending until the funds were put to good use.
“The police arrested the school committee chairperson and forced him to refund the school alongside the head teacher, who was also found to be in the wrong,” he said.
At another school, the forum busted a syndicate which had diverted materials meant for a teacher’s house.
“The ward councillor diverted the building materials. However, after we intervened, they returned the public goods and the project completed,” Tchothokhwa narrates.
The forum works closely with traditional leaders as well as village and area development committees to enhance community participation in local development.
In Mangochi District, Koche Citizen Forum, T/A Mpondasi, prevented the selling of public land to some investor. The land was reserved for the landless members of the community, but was dubiously sold by ‘authorities’ and some ‘investors’.
Nice has spearheaded the formation of such forums nationwide to ensure ordinary citizens, especially those likely to be left behind due to poor public finance management, get better services and demand accountability from duty bearers.
Nice envisions a sustainable, rights-based approach empowering poor people to hold governments and service providers to account for public services through negotiations based on data that they collect themselves.
According to Nice spokesperson Grace Hara, each district has three to eight groups based on need, but more are mushrooming “as people see the need to have these forums”. She say: “Nice and its partners only facilitate and support this engagement. They don’t mediate on behalf of citizens as is often the case. This is the essence of the citizen forums,”.
