Artists decry funding cuts
Despite cultural activities cutting across all sectors of development, arts bodies have spelled a disaster for development of arts and culture in the country following the punitive budget allocation in 2016/17 financial year.
According to the Ministry of Sports and Culture, the Department of Culture has been allocated K381 million for Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) and K50 million for Capital Budget (CB) during the 2016/17 financial year.
During the 2015/16 financial year, government allocated K275 million and K125 million, respectively.
However, the minimal budget allocations have been described as inadequate for arts and culture.
failing to fill holes
Veteran musician-cum-music activist Patrick Simakweli said government lacks seriousness when it comes to the development of arts.
“I think as a country, we have failed in arts development because I don’t see us developing with K381 million. This is a punitive budget which cannot even cater for the serious renovation works of Blantyre Cultural Centre [BCC],” he said.
Simakweli noted that the enactment of the Cultural Policy and the Copyright Bill are dragging because of the poor funding.
Musicians Union of Malawi (MUM) also shared its concern on budget cuts.
“We have always advocated for an increased budget allocation for cultural programmes if we are to make strides. At least a billion plus annual budget can do. But the current allocations are failing to fill holes because the kwacha is not stable,” said MUM president the Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango.
In an interview, Ministry of Sports and Culture spokesperson Christopher Mbukwa indicated that the 2016/17 cultural budget allocation comes into effect from July 1.
Mbukwa said there will be a slight shift towards the reform activities which include restructuring the Department of Culture and devolution of some cultural functions to local councils.
Other notable activities that the department is planning to introduce and continue implementing under the punitive budget include the establishment of the National Arts and Heritage Council (NaHeC), introduction of Public Private Partnership (PPP), establishment of information centres at selected heritage sites and development of cultural infrastructure. n
