By Wanangwa Mtawatli
Africa-Press – Malawi. In a damning failure of public administration, the Malawi Government has effectively crippled local councils by withholding four months of essential funding during the 2024/2025 financial year — a move that has paralyzed service delivery, deepened hardship in communities, and undermined the very spirit of decentralization enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
Local Government Authorities (LGAs), which are supposed to receive funds through Central Government Transfers (CGTs), Locally Generated Revenues (LGRs), and Other Recurrent Transactions (ORTs), were left high and dry in the months of September and November 2024, and February and March 2025, according to a fiscal space analysis released by the Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA) in collaboration with ActionAid Malawi.
“LGAs faced a lot of challenges as they operated without CGTs for long periods… The country was close to hyperinflation in the last quarter,” the report bluntly states.
The chilling impact? Hospitals failed to feed patients, ambulances stopped running, basic cleaning ceased, and crucial medical services ground to a halt. For a government that claims to champion development and inclusive growth, this is not just a budgetary oversight — it is an abdication of duty.
Decentralization in Name, Starvation in Practice
The total budget allocated for LGAs stood at MK183 billion — MK141 billion from CGTs and MK42 billion from LGRs. Yet by the end of the fiscal year on March 31st, MK15.03 billion in funds had simply not been disbursed — an 11% funding shortfall. The fourth quarter alone saw LGAs receiving just MK34.1 billion (91%), only 24% of their annual budget, leaving massive operational holes.
Worse still, this violation cuts to the constitutional core: Section 150 (1) of Malawi’s Constitution mandates the transfer of resources to local councils. The analysis warns that ignoring this obligation amounts to weakening constitutional democracy itself.
‘We Are Watching’: MALGA Sounds the Alarm
MALGA Executive Director Hadrod Zeru Mkandawire minced no words: “We will lobby that the arrears for the four-months funding be paid.”
He added that the quarterly report is meant to expose the widening cracks in fiscal discipline and decentralization, by assessing “budget credibility, adequacy, and execution” in a climate of “tight fiscal space.”
Despite repeated attempts, Treasury officials remained unreachable, offering neither explanation nor apology.
A Call for Real Fiscal Justice
As the national government continues to squeeze local authorities, MALGA is urging a rethink of the 95%-to-5% national revenue sharing model, arguing that it chokes local development and mocks the goals of the Malawi 2063 Vision.
“The minimum 5% National Net Revenue proposed in the NDP 2024 is too small for meaningful transformation and rural development,” reads the report.
Instead, the association proposes empowering LGAs to generate their own revenues with greater autonomy, citing property rating as a key untapped source.
A Nation Held Hostage by Its Own Government
At a time when local councils are the frontline actors in delivering health, education, and agriculture, the government’s inexplicable funding freeze is not just bureaucratic dysfunction — it is sabotage.
If Malawi is serious about escaping poverty and reaching middle-income status, it must treat local governments not as burdens, but as the bedrock of national development.
Decentralization cannot be achieved through press statements and policy slogans. It must be funded — fully, equitably, and on time.
Source: Malawi Nyasa Times – News from Malawi about Malawi
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