The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has challenged technocrats in the ministry to speed up the decentralisation process to help Malawians start benefiting from the fruits of devolution.
The ministry has also admitted that 20 years since the policy was adopted, there have been more challenges that have affected the implementation of the policy.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa made the remarks in Mangochi on Monday when he opened a two-day workshop on local government sector devolution which aims at deepening decentralisation and local development through effective devolution.
Nankhumwa said despite Malawi adopting the decentralisation policy about two decades ago, there are no results on the ground to prove that Malawians have embraced and are starting to enjoy the process which, he said, is a catalyst for social and economic development.
“There is increasing pressure for us to show the results of decentralisation. Malawians are looking for quick results to their day to day social economic problems particularly at local level,” said he.
The minister, therefore, urged his ministry’s officials to willingly relinquish power to local council so that decentralisation starts bearing fruits among local people, as a means of reducing poverty among Malawians.
Giving his experience to the meeting, former mayor for Blantyre, Noel Chalamanda, challenged that for devolution of power to work, the ministry must show commitment as opposed to the case now when it seems to be enjoying holding on to the power.
He said experience so far has shown that the ministry is not willing to relinquish its power to local councils such that it has concentrated all the power to it while claiming to be implementing decentralisation.
“The ministry must relinquish its powers and not just to be talking about it. The ministry must also fund the local councils to facilitate the devolution process,” Chalamanda said.
In his remarks, United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) Mission Director Littleton Tazewell said Malawi should borrow a leaf from other countries that have effectively implemented the decentralisation process in African in order to eliminate poverty among Malawians.
He cited Rwanda as a model for how best African countries can learn to make local people benefit and participate in development through decentralisation process.
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