NICE satisfied with citizens’ participation in public expenditure tracking
National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Public Trust has expressed satisfaction with the level of community participation and involvement in Public Expenditure Tracking (PET) to safeguard public money.
NICE Acting Executive Director Gray Kalindekafe cited a recent case in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Vuso Jere in Ntchisi were community leaders and Parents Teacher Associations (PTAs) ordered head teachers to reject tree seedlings, which the District Education Manager (DEM) purchased without their knowledge.
The DEM purchased the tree seedlings on loan and each school was supposed to pay MK120, 000.00 for 1, 000 trees.
The beneficiary schools were instructed to deduct this money from the School Improvement Plan (SIP) funds.
But community leaders and Parents and Teacher Associations (PTAs), who had recently undergone citizen empowerment training conducted by NICE, instructed head teachers to return the seedlings to the DEM office, arguing that the procurement lacked transparency and accountability since the DEM did not consult them before implementing the programme.
Kalindekafe described the development as an indication that citizens have realized the need to actively participate in tracking public expenditure.
“There has been an increase in community participation on monitoring of projects like what type of project is being implemented, and who is funding it as well as the criteria used to identify a contractor.
“Another example is when the community around Maliya School in GVH Jeweta, TA Kuntaja in Machinga district engaged the school committee to find out why the project of building a Head teacher’s office was put on halt when it was supposed to be completed in a given period of time. The project was stopped in 2016.
“It was at this time that they discovered that funds that were supposed to support the project were abused by the PIC and the VDC,” he said.
Kalindekafe said Malawi could easily win the battle against corruption if more citizens can take part in holding duty-bearers accountable.
NICE has been conducting PET activities in the five District Councils of Nkhatabay, Karonga, Thyolo, Mangochi and Ntchisi under the Multi-Annual Programme Estimate (MAPE 1).
In all the regions, the activities were implemented with support from MEJN Regional Coordinator for the Centre.
In spite of some resistance and misunderstandings by some selected duty-bearers including councilors, especially in Mangochi, the project showed some results.
People are now able to follow the funds of the community projects, which are taking place in their area.
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