By Bishop Witmos

Mangochi, January 20, Mana: National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) has kick-started the 2025/2026 budget review for district, municipal and city councils.

The exercise, which is taking place in Blantyre, is aimed at scrutinizing and validating the budgets of councils and cities, thereby ensuring that they align with national priorities and adhere to principles of effective resource allocation at the local government level.

Mangochi District Council was among the first councils that presented their projected budgets on Monday.

Speaking during the session, Mangochi acting District Commissioner, Davie Chigwenembe said that the council budget for the coming fiscal year is pegged at K 8.1 billion.

The budget includes central government transfers of K 7.8 billion, as well as a locally generated revenue of K306 million.

He said that through the budget, the council will priorities infrastructure developments in agriculture, education and health sectors, through the construction of irrigation schemes, rehabilitation of health facilities, as well as construction of girls’ hostels and schools.

‘‘As a district council, we want to advance on winter irrigation farming, to ensure that communities are food secure. Through this year’s budget, we have earmarked some traditional authorities such as Chimala where we will construct irrigation schemes.

‘‘To improve child education, we are planning to construct two girls’ hostels, as well as some school blocks in the district, with resources from Governance to Enable Service Delivery. On health, we will rehabilitate health facilities through the hospital rehabilitation project,” Chigwenembe added.

On finances, the acting District Commissioner said Mangochi was performing well in locally generated revenue in the current fiscal year such that by December 2024, the council collected K226 million, anticipating surpassing a K245 million target.  

He added that in the coming financial year, the council intends to collect K306 million from locally generated revenue.

In his remarks, a budget officer at the NLGFC, Jonathan Banda commended Mangochi District Council for performing well on revenue generation.

‘‘In most cases, district councils have difficulties in managing their resources due to large outstanding balances. It appears that Mangochi is doing well, and this is a commendable development,” said Banda.