District Commissioner (DC) for Nkhata Bay, Alex Mdooko, on Saturday took a swipe at Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) who fail to buy in to the priorities of the areas they are working in.
He said that in recent years most of the NGOs are more into profiteering than service to the people.
Mdooko further observed that the coming in of local councillors has seen mushrooming of projects on good governance, transparency and accountability at the expense of crucial sectors like those of education and health which mostly need a boost.
He said, as development partners to government, the organisations should commit to addressing real challenges that Malawians are facing.
Mdooko wondered why a majority of the organisations are bent on fault, finding in politicians and public officers through specific projects.
“Most of us are settling for soft projects, we are not ready to face the giants haunting our people in the communities. Let us help find solutions to the real problems instead of demanding books of accounts from the councils,” said Mdooko on the sidelines of a bicycle donation ceremony to 375 pupils from Chikwina- Mpamba Zone by World Vision International (WVI).
He then expressed concern over the duplication of projects being carried out by the organisations, saying it is to some extent a waste of time and resources.
“We oftentimes have over seven partners implementing similar projects, and you tend to wonder if there can’t be a way of getting all those under one umbrella since we all intend to benefit the same people,” he said.
Commenting on the donation, Mdooko said the high school dropout rates in the district have to a great extent been a result of the long distances that school-going boys and girls walk to access education.
He thus hailed WVI for coming in time to save the situation.
In her remarks the organisation’s National Education Manager, Florence Pwele, said WVI appreciates the mobility challenges being faced in rural schools.
“This is a pilot project being aided by World bicycle relief, and we hope we will manage to keep some of the students, especially girls, in school,” Pwele said.
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