By George Mponda

Karonga, September 5, Mana: Karonga District Council (KDC) have said their exchange visit to the United Republic of Tanzania where they engaged Kyela District Council officials will improve service delivery.

Acting District Commisioner (DC) for Karonga, Frank Mkandawire said this Wednesday at Kyela district in Tanzania at the end of the exchange visit.

According to Mkandawire, one of the objectives of the exchange visit was to learn how their Tanzanian counterparts have managed to develop their district.

"Our mandate as a district council is to represent people within our jurisdiction and provide for their well being. We have been facing challenges in some of our service provisions this is why we requested to visit Kyela inorder to gain knowledge which will help us fulfill our mandate to the people of Karonga.

"In Karonga, we have challenges in controlling animals in the central business district (CBD), sanitation, under collection and pilferage of local revenue and formulation of bylaws. But with the knowledge we have gained here, we will go back and re-strategise inorder to overcome these challenges," he added.

On his part, Kyela District Vice Chairperson Adam Kapeta said knowledge sharing among the two districts which are neighbours is benefitial for people in both countries.

Kapeta said; "Among other things, this trip will foster cooperation between Karonga and Kyela business communities mind you there are several bottlenecks experienced by business people from both sides.

It will also unlock opportunities for the betterment of our districts since we have shared ideas on what we are doing in terms of revenue mobilisation, service provision to the citizenry, disaster management and town planning in general."

At the end of the exchange visit, KDC officials gave gifts of Malawian made products to the officials from Kyela District Council.

The team which travelled from Karonga comprised of all ward councillors, Senior Chief Makwaboko, a representative of interest groups in the district and officials from the council secretariat.