Council taken to task over registration fees

Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in Dowa District Council have asked the council to explain to all the CBOs what it does with the money CBOs pay to it as registration fees.

Representative of the CBOs Lajab Chigumula claimed that CBOs pays K2000 each to the council for registration and do not know what this money does in the district, hence the organizations have requested him to ask the council on their behalf.

He said there are 44 CBOs in the area of Traditional Authority Chiwere in the district while Traditional Authority Kayembe has 36 which are divided into A and B hence a lot of money is being collected from them which demand the council to be accountable and transparent so that they understand and move together with it in improving the service delivery in the district.

Speaking in an interview, Chigumula said CBOs being driven by the communities have the right to ensure their duty bearer which is the council is accountable.

He said because of unexplained use of their registration fees, some CBOs of the district are reluctant to pay registration fees to the council which in turn will force all other CBOs in the district to follow, hence the need for the council to give them direction.

“I hope that the strong working relationships which exists between the CBOs and council need to grow from strength to strength besides questioning the authorities to explain for possible answers.” Chigumula said.

But in her response, Dowa District Commissioner, Fannie Msimuko, assured the CBO representative that she will take the matter to the council’s Education Service Committee to see the way forward.

However, in one of the previous full council meetings, Dowa South East parliamentarian, Harry Njoka Chipeni, asked the council secretariat to give a thorough explanation to what it does with the revenues collected from the markets of the district.

Njoka observed that the council has failed to build toilets in its markets which is a health hazardous to both Vendors and customers as they are using nearby graveyards and bushes answering to the call of nature.

He said he does not understand why the Dowa District Council was number one in revenue collections in the 2015/16 financial year while the same is failing to build toilets in its markets.