Govt embeds chiefs’ houses into CDF

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has directed councils with chiefs’ house projects to pluck some funds from the Reformed K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to complete construction. Based on the 2026 Annual Economic Report, 77 houses for chiefs were earmarked for construction and rehabilitation nationwide, out of which 22 have been completed, 31 are at various stages of construction and 22 will need to be re-tendered after contractors halted works due to price escalations. In a statement dated May 4 2026, Secretary for Local Government and Rural Development the Reverend Moses Chimphepo said the directive stems from an April 24 2026 meeting in Salima.

During the meeting, he said the ministry emphasised that councils should complete the projects which were started by the government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) before embarking on new ones. “The Ministry of Local Development was constructing the chiefs’houses in some district councils and with the decentralisation of the funds from the ministry to the councils through CDF, the ministry is requesting you to review your CDF plans to include the completion of the chiefs’ houses which are being implemented by your council with funding from the ministry,” reads part of the letter. Yesterday, Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) chief executive officer Hadrod Mkandawire said while there is nothing wrong with the ministry providing a policy guidance, the question to be asked is that do chiefs’ houses constitute community development.

“That would be stretching community development too far. In this case, you have a house that will be family-owned by the royal family, not the community-owned,” he said. Parliamentary Committee on Local Authorities and Rural Development chairperson Edward Chileka Banda also said the decision meant that CDF resources shall drastically be squeezed considering the number of chiefs the country has.

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“According to the Chiefs Act, chiefs are recognised as public officers, so a special fund would effectively deal with the operations of chiefs in Malawi as opposed to reliance on the CDF only,” he said. In a separate interview, Centre for Social Transparency and Accountability executive director Willy Kambwandira agreed, stating that the decision reflects a continued trend of centralising financing streams into a politically managed facility. “CDF is already burdened, and routing such expenditures to CDF risks diluting focus on public service delivery and distorts local government priorities towards patronage driven projects,” he said.

On his part, National Anti- Corruption Alliance chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa said the move reduces CDF’s effectiveness, weakens accountability, and shifts attention away from real local development needs like water, health and education. The ministry’s spokesperson Chimwemwe Njoloma was yet to respond to these queries by press time. In his State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament in Lilongwe on February 13 2026, President Peter Mutharika said the CDF will be performance-based.

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