By Evance Chisiano

Blantyre, August 21, Mana: Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture, Richard Chimwendo Banda has called on local authorities never to give in to political pressure on the choice of contractors as experience has shown that the pressure compromises procurement processes that in turn affect project implementation.

The minister made the call on Wednesday at Golden Peacock in Blantyre where the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, local authorities in the southern region and development partners met for a quarterly coordination meeting.

Chimwendo said quarterly meetings were ideal for the local authorities and development partners’ performance in service delivery, adding that the meetings provide space for the local authorities to learn from each one another and to discuss areas of improvement on service delivery to satisfy citizens’ development aspirations.

The minister observed delayed procurement processes in most local authorities thereby delaying implementation of projects at the expense demand driven development and called on the district commissioners, chief executive officers and their staff to ensure procurement processes are done with reasonable speed for efficiency and effective service delivery. 

He however acknowledged political interference on issues of procurement in local authorities where some politicians impose contractors of their choice to carry out development activities.

Apart from ministry officials, District Commissioners, council directors of finance, planning and development and directors of public works, members of parliament from the southern region, ward councilors; mayors from Blantyre and Zomba cities and Luchenza Municipal Council attended the two days quarterly coordinating meeting.

To this effect, the minister called on members of parliament and other influential politicians to stop intervening procurement processes in local authorities, saying the interference has the potential to delay procurement of contracts that are meant to facilitate projects in local authorities.

“Delayed procurement processes frustrate development and this in turn defeats quality service delivery. Don’t allow politicians to interfere in your work,” the minister told District Commissioners and their directors and disclosed that donors through government Enabled to Service Delivery (GESD) project will provide 40 million US Dollars for the implementation of various projects in local authorities across Malawi.

He therefore called on local authorities to improve financial management and procurement procedures to put the donor support to good use for the good of the citizens.

Banda said Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture was trying to deploy adequate and qualified staff in local authorities for efficiency in the wake of continued inflow of donor support.

“We want to move in the right direction to satisfy development aspirations of the citizens that always look forward to quality service delivery,” he added.

On political interference, Thyolo District Commissioner, Hudson Kuphanga acknowledged the trend saying “It indeed compromises procurement procedures and timely and quality service delivery,”

He however said there was a need to stick to procurement guidelines to ensure no political interference and other factors that affect implementation development projects.

“We will always reason with politicians to listen to us and spare us space to do the right procurement process. Procurement has procedures to be followed and it takes good procedures to do good procurement,” Kuphanga added.

During the Regional Quarterly Coordination Meeting several presentations were made by local authorities on issues ranging from financial management to climate change resilience.

Ministry of Education, National Aids Commission, Non-Governmental Organizations Regulatory Authority (NGORA) among others also made their presentations on policy guidance to enhance coordination in the local authorities.

Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture, Owen Chomanika opened the meeting on Tuesday and closed it on Wednesday with a call to all local authorities in the southern region to coordinate with all development partners for effective service delivery in their respective areas.

Quarterly meeting in the southern region is part of a series of regional quarterly meetings with other meetings to be held in Dowa and Mzuzu where delegates from local authorities will also discuss coordination as key to quality service delivery