- Title
- Funding mechanisms for local authorities in Malawi –Blantyre city council
- Creator
- Mvula, Towera Innocentia
- Subject
- Finance, Public -- Malawi -- Blantyre
- Subject
- Financial management -- Malawi -- Blantyre Local finance -- Malawi -- Blantyre
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MPhil
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/41730
- Identifier
- vital:36576
- Description
- Funding for local government is crucial so that the local governments can continue delivering on their mandate. The trend around the world is that local governments are underfunded and highly dependent on central government transfers, which limits their autonomy. This study on funding mechanisms for local councils in Malawi took Blantyre City Council as its case study. The study aims to evaluate the funding mechanisms of local councils in Malawi and find alternative sources, or ways to optimize the current funding mechanisms. Literature on local government funding was reviewed and challenges facing local government funding were identified. A purposive sampling method was used to select study participants that were drawn from the financial sector, NGO’s and from local government. Data collection was done through structured in-depth interviews and document study. Data analysis was done through framework analysis. The study found that the main revenue sources for local councils in Malawi are transfers from central government, that on average make up more than 80% of their total revenues. A large chunk of these central transfers come in as conditional grants, which means that the councils spend most of their efforts implementing central government priorities. Revenue from own sources is very low even in councils that have wider tax resource bases. Some of the urban councils are able to generate a substantial amounts from own sources; however, most of these funds go towards meeting the recurrent expenditure budgets. As a result, all of the councils still rely on central government to finance their capital expenditure budgets. The study found that more can be done to fully exploit revenue abilities of local sources through addressing current bottlenecks. Amongst others, local councils currently face the following challenges that negatively affect their revenues: legal limitations, political interference, outdated revenue management systems, theft, weak legislation, financial mismanagement, outdated and complicated processes, lack of human and technical expertise and weak oversight. To boost current revenues, the study amongst others, recommends strengthening the current legal framework, processes review and improvements, capacitation of personnel, introduction of new levies and exploring external financing.
- Format
- xii, 97 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | TOWERA INNOCENTIA MVULA.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |