The Dowa District Council has said it is receiving an overwhelming response from Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) seeking to register with the council.
In July the council issued a deadline of up to November, 2017, for all NGOs of the district to register after noticing that besides the organizations’ presence on the ground, the district is still in poverty.
Speaking in an interview with Malawi24, the council’s Director of Planning and Development Martin Pindamkono warned all NGOs that they risk losing their membership to both council and district executive council committees if they do not comply with what the council has ordered them to do.
Pindamkono asked NGOs to register in time as there will be no extension period of registering with the council after the expiry of the deadline.
He asked all NGOs to put the interest of the people and communities first for the district to move from where it is today to another level expressing hope that the full list of NGOs in the district will be known after each has submitted the forms the council distributed to them together with their contact persons and their budget line.
“All this is being done to put the house in order as the list of partners will be sent to the communities for them to know which organisations are in their areas.
“It becomes a challenge to the council when it is asked by its partners of how many people to support in meetings, partners will now be able to support meetings with the new arrangements,” he said.
The issue of NGOs registering with the council in the district came with the Minister of Gender, Children, Disabilities and Social Welfare, Dr. Jean Kalilani who accused NGO leaders of enriching themselves at the expense of the poor in the district.
Kalilani lamented that a lot of Malawian pictures are being put on displays in Europe and America for donors to support but the funds end up in some people’s pockets.
On her part, Dowa District Commissioner, Fannie Msimuko said from now on the council has stopped entertaining NGOs which are not registered with it saying the district has so many partners working on the ground with some implementing paper work projects.
Dowa District has over 35 NGOs with many operating from the capital, Lilongwe and Mponela trading centre.
