LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi government on Monday told nation that will introduce metropolitan police in major cities in the country to beef up security.

Local Government Minister Ben Phiri told the news conference in the capital Lilongwe that the move will reduce crime rates as city council will have its own police.

Phiri disclosed that will start with Blantyre as preparations are at an advanced stage for the initiative.

The minister however said the project will be done in cities and councils that have stable financial muscle to pay the services.

Phiri jointly addressed a news conference with Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology Mark Botomani.

He was updating the media on re-branding councils to serve the nation better than before.

“Our neighboring countries’ cities have independent police apart from the national police to man security. This reduces crime rates in cities hence we want to apply it here.

“We will start with Blantyre which has stable financial muscle to recruit and pay the start. Only those councils having financial stability will be allowed to introduce the metropolitan police,” assures Phiri.

Phiri hinted that implementation of some development projects could also face challenges because government is not collecting enough because of the slow economic activities.

The minister talked about various projects his ministry is undertaking to improve the quality of service delivery in district, town and city councils across the country.

“Since these demonstrations started, councils and the Malawi Revenue Authority have not been collecting enough resources to finance development projects.

On fighting corruption in the councils, the minister said his ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which will facilitate closer collaboration between the ministry and Bureau in preventing and fighting corruption.

“I must admit. Corruption remains endemic in our councils. But let me assure you that we, at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, are working very hard to deal with this vice,” he said.

In his remarks, Botomani said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led administration has lined up a number of programmes to improve the social and economic situation of the country.

He implored journalists to partner with government in writing positive stories about the various development projects under implementation across the country.