Securing the public purse

The late Justice Maxon Mbendera in declaring winners of the last elections made one critical public finance call. That those elected to lead us should ensure our taxes are protected and invested in activities that will improve the quality of life for all Malawians.

I thought we should continue to have a serious conversation on how public finances are used since prosperity of the country much depends on them.

In case we forget, some numbers are very familiar. These are 1.7 billion, 63 billion, 13 billion and 264 billion.

I am pretty sure the cumulative figures are frightening. Such worth even exceed what the most profitable businesses, banks make in this country. One can only think that the taxpayer was short-changed in some way. These are not matters of rocket science, but common sense, manifested in dysfunctional hospitals and schools. Unless the public purse is protected, the road ahead looks pretty hazy.

The only call we can make is that our taxes must be secured and used to develop the nation that has nothing to show after 50 years of independence except for numerous coffin workshops in poor neighbourhoods.

The story of political leaders abusing power and using elected offices to enrich themselves appears to be a common African malaise, and Malawi is no exception. A problem with such impunity is that it stifles competition and kills hardwork by providing bumpy ground to some.

Furthermore, it scares away all potential investors unwilling to pay rent to offshore accounts of politicians or their surrogate family-private trusts. We usually end up with crooks that use our resources, pay no taxes as long as they massage bellies of sleek politicians.

For example, there is a law requiring public officers from the head of State to a certain level downwards to declare their assets. The law is silent and can do nothing if such elected officials do not declare their assets. It is a catalyst for abuse of public offices and is being currently exploited to the fullest.

Guidelines for political party funding are quite weak Sometimes one is tempted to think if the Forfeiture Act was re-established with some variation such abuse can be arrested.

In my view, I believe that we can establish a Transparency and Accountability Commission with wider ranging powers, including prosecution, annual compulsory disclosures of incomes and taxes paid by senior public officers up to the President including political parties.

All senior public officials in this category should file tax returns and declare their sources of income under oath on an annual basis.  The Transparency and Accountability Commission can lead the process as an independent body that ensures all senior public officials are accountable for their actions and punitive measures are put in place for any unexplained exponential rise in wealth.

Political parties remain one major conduit through which public funds are channelled.  Up to this day, I do not believe that taxpayer funds should be given to parties with a certain threshold of seats in Parliament. My understanding is that a political party is an association of like-minded individuals that share certain common ideals. Its members must be in a position to fund their activities, and should not put a bill on the taxpayer.

My main concern is the fact that we continue to see unregulated political party funding. Consider cases where political parties hold huge fundraising functions and private individuals make some absurd donations that appear no less than an investment in an overpriced government contract. If you can fast-track things, one can see the apparent link with how government contracts are given to recover some of these donations and the tenderprenuer   billionaires we create in the process.

We need to put a legislation that restricts the amount of money an individual company or person can contribute to a political party. If properly established, Transparency and Accountability Commission, under an effective legislation would have to compel all political parties to declare on an annual basis their sources of income and publish its list of donors. If there is no compliance, trustees of the concerned parties can be held to account or even have   bank accounts of such parties frozen. It borders on intent to defraud the  people of Malawi through indirect methods.

To get matters right, there are lot of loopholes in the public finance management system that are facilitating such abuse of taxpayers’ money.

In a week’s time, we will celebrate five decades of independence. What are we going to show for it? Well, I can think of daily power cuts, youth unemployment, poor road networks, poverty of undefined degree, malnutrition, lack of world-class medical facilities, mud hats even in the capital and commercial city, lack of clean water, poorly-funded universities among other indicators of depravation.

A culture of transparency is indispensable in any functioning democracy and modern business environment. We have to fight for it and hold our elected leaders to account for their abnormal wealth instead of singing   usual praises of “God given presidents”.

Some gods are counterfeit or fake. We need to tell our kids that you can make it in life, create a business and employ others without necessarily getting politically-connected or even running for an elected political post to defraud the taxpayer in the process.

This is not the situation at the moment. If we avoid transparency in how elected leaders and senior public officials account for their wealth, we have ourselves to blame as countries next door are rising in their industrialisation and job creation. n