Underperforming councils worry Local Government Minister Ben Phiri, warns corrupt officials

Minister of Local Government Ben Phiri has expressed concerns that some councils in the country are under collecting revenue despite having the potential to surpass their revenue targets.

Phiri was speaking in Mangochi where he met council members and other stakeholders to share with them the vision which the Ministry has in order to achieve its development goals.

He mentioned that Mangochi is one of the councils which is not utilizing its revenue collection potential, hence he called on Councilors and Members of Parliament to help the council in motivating the People pay taxes to the council.

“Most importantly the council must improve service delivery so that the people must be able to appreciate the need to pay taxes,” he says.

Phiri says that all over the world, taxes are high but people do not complain about taxes when service delivery is good, Mangochi must improve it’s services rendered to people.

He further warns council employees that his Ministry will not hesitate to fire officers who will be found indulging in corruption.