Gerald Kampanikiza, News Reporter
Malawian Vice President Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima is in the Northern region for a reform projects validation visit including holding progress review meetings with District councils.
It follows similar exercises he had with councils in the Central and Southern regions and in four days this week, he will be engaging councils in northern region.
According to Chilima, what they need is councils that are reformed, progressive and responsive to the needs of the people.
“During the meetings, we will also continue to encourage the councils to embrace modernity and think of new ways of generating income as opposed to always waiting for funding from Treasury,” Chilima said.
He highlighted that Councils must be ambitious, change makers and must exist to champion the development of their districts.
He started his tour in the north by visiting Chitipa and Karonga district councils today where in Chitipa, he tracked progress on seven reform areas that the council is undertaking which include; improved service delivery, Financial Sustainability, Agriculture Productivity, and Tourism & Recreation.
“We further visited an Emergency Treatment Unit- a project which the council envisaged to be the referral for all disease outbreaks in the district following lessons learnt after the Covid-19 pandemic and the same facility will also be serving as a paying unit for the district hospital,” he said.
In Karonga, Dr Chilima appreciated the progress that the council is making in their reform areas that include Urban Development, Infrastructure Development, Improved Service Delivery and Environmental Management.
“We also appreciated their Dyke Construction project as one way of the council’s pro-active approach in mitigating the impact of floods which are a common occurrence in the district,” Chilima explained.
