Dowa is among the top four councils that performing well countrywide, according to the Local Assembly Performance Assessment (LAPA).
The council performed well in areas such as development planning, human resource planning and management, finance and procurement planning, governance and service delivery. It had an overall score of 61.5% in the in the 2016/17 financial year.
Following this improved performance, the council was invited to make a presentation at Nkopola lodge in Mangochi to outline its achievements.
Speaking during a full council meeting held at the boma, the council’s finance service committee chair, councillor Martin Luka Phiri, said the success of the council in its performance assessment is the success of all the people in the district.
Luka thanked all the players who contributed in one way or another to the improved performance making the council to be among the top four councils in the 2016/17 financial year.
However, T/A Mponela while commending the council for a job well done in financial discipline, expressed disappointment with the finance service committee report of 19th February, 2019 which had figures with no breakdown on how much revenue each market collects monthly.
Chief Mponela questioned the report as lacking truth and openness saying revenue collection in the district is going lower and lower making those who pay the market fee wondering as to where their moneys go.
He lamented that people thought that by raising the market fee from K100 to K 200 per day, revenue collections would have been higher than the previous year saying something need to be done to correct the situation.
The chief expressed hope that more revenues would be collected if the council put in place all the necessary measures of curbing corruption in markets hence a great call for openness.
He alleged that some revenue collectors do not issue receipts and there’s a parallel market somewhere in Mponela saying in all of these, much needed revenue is lost through entering in people’s pockets.
