Karonga District Commissioner (DC) Paul Kalilombe has called for collective action from stakeholders in the fight against corruption in the district.
The DC made the call recently in a press briefing that the Justice and Peace under the Karonga Diocese organized of the purpose for the council to share the 2019/2020 financial year progress, plans for 2020/2021 financial year
And procedures including the projects identification, implementation and procurement in managing local development resources such as constituency Development Fund (CDF), District Development Fund (DDF) and Local Development Fund (LDF).
Speaking at the press briefing Kalilombe, said citizens should stand up against corruption by reporting to the council on any abuse of developmental resources.
He stressed, efforts against corrupt elements should not only be left to the graph busting bodies hence urged for a collective action among stakeholders.
“We all have to be active in reporting against corrupt people because eliminating corruption requires collective action by all stakeholders from the district,” he said.
He then appealed for unity among the district residents in order to develop the district.
“As a council we are quite aware that the issues of corruption can not only be dealt by the council a lone we all need to hold our hands for the betterment of karonga,” Kalilombe explained.
However, Christabel Munthali Civic Education Officer for Karonga, said a lack of an effective system to track how local generated resources are being tracked is a contributing factors to the abuse of public resources in the district.
She said due to politicization of developmental project citizens were unable to hold right holders accountable hence the continued abuse of developmental projects citing the failed Mpata Health Centre and the Mlare market as some of the developmental projects which public resources were abused among others in the district.
With funding from Irish Aid through Danish Church Aid, Justice and peace desk under the karonga diocese is implementing a three year project known as Citizen action in local government accountability.
