Planning commissioners yet to be confirmed
Members of the National Planning Commission (NPC) are yet to be confirmed over three months after their appointment, a development that has left the country to operate without a development strategy.
Three months after commissioners for the NPC were appointed, Parliament is yet to scrutinise and confirm the appointments, The Nation has learnt.
Chairperson of the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament, Lingson Belekanyama, confirmed in an interview yesterday that the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) submitted names of the new commissioners, but his committee was yet to scrutinise them.
He also said Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe had also informed him of the need to have the commissioners in place as soon as possible.
Said Belekanyama: “The names were submitted to the committee and we are aware that it is very crucial that they be interviewed and confirmed. We also know that since the commissioners have not been confirmed, the new strategic plan cannot be finalised and launched.” Belekanyama’s committee is due to meet on September 5 to interview the proposed commissioners for NPC.
Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development also confirmed that the commission was not yet operational as the matter was with Parliament.
“The relevant committee will be meeting and once the proposed names have been confirmed, the planning commission will start its operations,” said the ministry’s new spokesperson Davis Sado in an interview.
President Peter Mutharika appointed professor of economics at University of Malawi’s Chancellor College Ephraim Wadonda Chirwa as chairperson of the commission.
Other commissioners-designate are Mercy Masoo, Professor Richard Mkandawire, Dr. Graham Chipande, Abigail Dzimadzi and Dr. Evance Mwathunga.
The NPC was established by an Act of Parliament last year to formulate and review policies and strategic plans for national development and recommend allocation of resources.
Among the policies was the successor to the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) II which expired in June last year.
Following their appointment, the commissioners were expected to recruit a director general and other secretariat staff who would complete the process of developing the new strategy.
The NPC will be headed by a director general who will have the rank of deputy chief secretary to the government.
The development strategy will have fewer priority areas, including agriculture and climate change management; education and skills development, energy and industrial development, transport and ICT infrastructure; and health and population management.
The NPC was mooted amid concerns from economists over the lack of coherence between political party manifestos and national development strategies. n
