Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri has said that relocating district council offices away from city or municipal councils would promote balanced development across Malawi.
Responding to questions in parliament on Tuesday, the minister told Parliamentarians that his ministry has adopted a policy of having district councils and city or municipal councils operate from separate locations instead of being based in the same urban centers.
Phiri said this aligns well with the country’s 2063 Agenda, adding, the world is living in a global village where urbanization is fast progressing hence the need for the country to spread urban development.
“This arrangement is already working in districts such as Thyolo, where the district council offices are located separately from the Luchenza Municipal Council, another example is Mzuzu City Council and M’mbelwa District Council, they also operate from different locations”, he said.
Phiri further said, the government under the leadership of Professor Aurther Peter Mutharika is committed urbanizing and developing district councils through reforms, including the Constituency Development Fund.
On Saturday, July 18, Zomba District Council announced its plans to relocate its offices to Mpokwa Extension Planning Area (EPA) which is within Pirimiti township in the district, following a stakeholder meeting which agreed about the decision.
Zomba District Commissioner, Musandide Fredrick Missinjo said s the decision was made basing on constructive consultations the council conducted adding there was also a careful analysis of all the suggestions and feedback regarding the plan.
“All these years, Zomba district council has been cohabitating in Zomba city council which brought about confusion. One would go to city council offices when initially that person wanted meet the district commissioner, so moving to Mpokwa area will end this problem”. Explained Missinjo.
He added that they chose Mpokwa EPA because it is a flat area and that government owns land in the area, thus, limiting compensations to communities.
Missinjo further said accessibility and risk to disaster are some of the factors that were considered when choosing the place, adding the land is already developed, making the district council to forget core mandate of developing it from scratch.
Member of Parliament for Zomba Matiya Constituency, Kingwell Liphuka described the relocation as a positive development and appealed to people to avoid doing anything that would derail the development including vandalism and theft.
The council therefore revealed plans to construct an office complex at the area from the constituency Development Fund (CDF).
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