Govt to assess Monkey Bay if it qualifies to cede from Mangochi
Local Government minister Kondwani Nankhumwa says the government would make an assessment on whether Monkey Bay qualifies to stand alone as a district.
This follows calls from some quarters in the lake shore area to make it cede from Mangochi as way of enhancing development in the area.
Nankhumwa said there are several factors that would determine on whether Monkey Bay should be cut from Mangochi or not.
“It all depends on the economic factors of the area, we consider if the area can collect enough revenue to fund council activities, because that is very important,” he said.
He said the government would look at any proposal put on the table for the demarcation of Mangochi into two districts of Mangochi and Monkey Bay.
“We will give an appropriate answer after we get the proposal and an assessment has been done,” he said.
Former president Bakili Muluzi has been blamed for declaring Phalombe, Neno and Likoma Islands districts for political expediency without any assessment forcing the three districts the poorest in the country.
Phalombe and Likoma districts have no district hospital, 20 years after the declaration.
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Let’s focus on developing Mangochi as a whole, we really dont the time or financial capabilities to be pondering such a useless endeavour, I live in Monkeybay, so too does the president when his at the lake. We do not need to turn Mbay into a city to open up several bank branches, a shopte…etc
And am not sure if district hospitals are constructed with district local revenue. I thought central government does construct these with funding from donors
Demarcations of districts will not add any value to economic growth of the nation. Concentrate on making the already existing districts sustainable. No country has ever developed through demarcations. After all, this will only lead to draining of public resources through recruitment of district staff and so on. Nothing positive for the country. Usually such calls come from power hungry people without regard to cost-benefit analysis of the outcome. Lets develop our nation first by working hard in our areas of specialization and avoid corruption at all levels. The only district this far that may be justified to make such… Read more »
Neno does have a district hospital, a community hospital and health centres that function way above average