Vincent Gunde 
By Vincent Gunde
The Dowa Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Network, says it is ready to support the council to improve governance especially in the District Executive Committee (DEC) and Technical Working Group (TWG).
The Network said Dec meetings are important elements of the council management noting with a great concern that by and large, they are becoming ceremonial meetings saying the Dec must be accorded the respect, the executive deserves.
Speaking during the District Executive Committee (DEC) meeting held at the Boma on Thursday, the district’s CSO Governance Technical Working Group (TWG) Chairperson George Kaunda, called on both the council and its partners to move away from management by wondering about to management by objective for the Dec to be fully respected.
Kaunda said there are formal and informal rules governing Dec observing that both rules are very important but formal have more systematic accountability lines than informal ones.
He said it is worrisome that informal rules largely wins the ground observing that participation of the Council’s Directors is reducing itself every time saying his observation does not mean that he is undermining those delegated to the Dec
“The Dec is characterized by presentation rather than district wide strategic issues,” said Kaunda.
In his remarks, the Council’s Principal Environmental Development Officer Yusuf Laki, acknowledged the concern raised by the CSO Chairperson saying there’s need to sit down to discuss on how best to address the concerns raised.
Laki assured the CSO Network Chairperson that he will forward the concern to the relevant authorities calling for the need of the council and partners to work together for the good of the Dowa communities.
During the meeting, organizations such as There is Hope, ActionAid Malawi and Warm Core presented their projects to the Dec while the council updated partners on the progress of the Reformed Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for the district.
