The National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) has declared that it will not allow piecemeal projects beginning the from 2023/24 fiscal year as all funds at local level will be put into one development fund.

The committee chairperson Richard Chapweteka announced the changes on Monday during an engagement meeting the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture organised in Mzuzu.

Chapweteka: They must submit complete package

He said the new development means councils will be required to submit complete package projects for the basket fund, which will have resources from Constituency Development Fund (CDF), District Development Fund (DDF) and Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd) project.

Chapweteka said some projects in the country remain incomplete because councils focus on small projects, which he said was not helping the country, as such, there is need to put all funds in one basket and complete projects.

He said: “Whatever financing comes to councils, it’s government money but comes in different baskets.

“So, we need to have projects that will change the face of our districts, we can’t have piecemeal projects.”

However, some councillors who dominated the meeting protested the new arrangement, saying, members of Parliament have always regarded CDF as their resources and putting the resources in one basket will lead to more chaos.

Likoma Council chairperson Ernest Gulu Banda urged NLGFC to engage legislators as well so that there is buy-in to the new changes.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture, Owen Chomanika said time has come for people to put personal glorification aside and look at the bigger picture in developing the country.

He said: “When the money gets to the council for development projects, it should not be treated as money per a particular ward, but for the entire district.

“Those responsible must look at it as one basket and look at what that basket can achieve. We need to make it work, that is why we need to engage these people.”

In the 2022/23 National Budget, local councils were allocated K45.13 billion. Out of this figure, K19.3 billion was for CDF, K18.6 billion for construction of city roads and K3.1 billion was for DDF.

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