Mchinji District Council

Mchinji District Council is situated in the Central Region of Malawi and covers an area of 3,356 km² with an estimated population of 456,558 people.

The mandate of Mchinji District Council is primarily to make decisions on local governance and development for the district. In its quest to fulfill its mandate, Mchinji District Council proposed reforms in three thematic areas which were approved by His Excellency President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika in January 2017.

The Reform areas for Mchinji District Council are being implemented as follows:

1. Participatory Planning and Local Economic Development.

   Plans
   Facilitate the certification and marketing of local value added products by Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS).
   Initiate the process of linking four (4) crude cooking oil producing cooperatives to Kamwendo Cooking Oil Cooperative for refining and franchising.
   Establish one (1) outlet for marketing the district’s value added products under (COMSIP).

   Achievements

   • One (1) locally produced value added product (cooking oil) certified by MBS, Kamwendo Cooking Oil licensed and complying.
   • Two (2) crude cooking oil producing Cooperatives linked to Kamwendo Cooking Oil Cooperative.
2. Improvement in Financial Management Services.

   Plans
   Develop three (3) centres of tourist attraction (Fort Manning, Zulu Cultural Centre and Mthiransembe – Huge Tree) by June 2019.
   Develop two (2) sites for Ecotourism (within Thyolasanu and Mchinji Forest Reserves) by June 2019.
   Establishment of a Saturday Morning Market for fresh products.
   Introduce an electronic revenue collection system in local markets for the council.
   Formulate, pass and enforce by-laws meant to enforce new revenue ventures being pursued in the district such as carport/minibus/Taxi.
   Construct two (2) infrastructures (Minibus/Taxi Port and a Slaughter House) for new revenue generating ventures at the Boma.

   Achievements

   • Increase in revenue collection and the council is now able to pay its direct employees. During the 2015/16 Financial Year, Mchinji District Council managed to raise revenue amounting K46, 865,940.44. During the 2016/17 FY the council raised K62, 154,671.84 and during the just ended FY of 2017/18, Mchinji District Council managed to raise K90, 862,930.
   • The Car Port and Slaughter house were commissioned in January 2018.
   • The electronic revenue collection system was launched on 12 June, 2018.
3. Improve Service Delivery

   Plans
   Facilitate three (3) Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreements on refuse collections in council markets;increase the enrolment and pass rate in the district’s Primary Schools; increase Agricultural Productivity, Economic Em-powerment; increase the number of skilled Athletes in the district; sustain community access to safe water and increase complementary financial resources for quality health service delivery.

   Achievements

   • 20 of 30 primary schools started school feeding.
   • 6 out of 6 irrigation schemes installed with Solar powered Water pumps.
   • 50 out of 60 secondary school students accessed fees bursaries.
   • 20 out of 50 athletes engaged in Taikuando lessons.
   • 76% from 52% of families/women of child bearing age accessing services under small family concept (family planning).
   • Communities accessing safe water from boreholes all year round.

Basing on the proposed reforms by Mchinji District Council and progress registered in the implementation of the reforms, Mchinji District Council has performed exceptionally well in undertaking reforms under the Public Sector Reforms Programme.

Feedback: opcreforms@gmail.com