Currently there are 40 Local Authorities in Malawi, each one of them a body Corporate, categorized into 4 as follows:

(a)              28 District Assemblies;

(b)              8 Town Assemblies;

(c)               1 Municipal Assemblies;

(d)              3 City Assemblies .

 Even though one of the categories of Local Authorities is called ‘DISTRICT’ Assembly, Assemblies from all other categories are also Districts in their own right.

 Assemblies are made up of two distinct groups namely: 

1. The Political Arm, primarily comprising Community representatives that are democratically elected in a Local Government election. These represent people at Ward level and are called “Councillors”. It is the Councillors that vote during Assembly meetings and each one of them has only one Vote.

All the other members of the Assemblies are non-voting Ex-Officio members namely: Members of Parliament, Traditional Authorities and 5 other members representing interest groups as determined by the Assembly at its first meeting following an election.  At the helm of each Assembly is Chairperson or Mayor that are (non executive) are elected by their fellow Councilors.

2. The Technical Arm, usually called the Assembly Secretariat: these are employees with different areas of specialization that do the day to day work of the Assembly implementing the resolutions of the Political Arm.

The Assembly Secretariat is headed by either a Chief Executive for Urban Assemblies or a District Commissioner for the District Assembly.