Tale of false starts
The year 2021 is coming to a close and it has been eventful on the governance front. Our News Analyst CLEMENT CHINOKO catches up with Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) national coordinator Boniface Chibwana to assess the performance of both the governing and opposition benches so far. Excerpts:
Q: How do you assess the Tonse Alliance administration’s performance on key governance areas?
A: The government has fared well in efforts towards restoring trust in the governance and accountability bodies. Increased funding to institutions like the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Malawi Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman, though not substantive, is an indication of political will to ensure the strengthening of these independence governance bodies. Ensuring that key vacancies are also timely filled at some of these governance institutions is also a progressive action by the Tonse Alliance government.
However, the government still has much to tackle systemic and institutionalised corruption which remains rampant in the country. The involvement of political associates and henchmen closely connected to the governing elite in corrupt acts is a huge drawback to the government’s commitment to combating corruption.
The suspicious happenings such as those at the National Oil Company of Malawi on procurement of fuel do not inspire hope about a renewed chapter in the fight against corruption in Malawi.
Q: Are Malawians being adequately involved in public sector reforms?
A: Another missed opportunity by this government is the lack of effective, genuine and meaningful involvement and participation of the citizenry in the much-touted public sector reform programme. Citizens have been excluded in the processes, yet such initiatives are supposed to benefit the larger public. This approach by government has made it hard for citizens to assess the performance of public bodies in service provision under the programme. The new regime has also not lived up to the promise of ensuring citizens access to information although a symbolic commitment was made by commencing the operationalisation of the Access to Information Act in September 2020.
Q: Do you see an improvement from last year when President Lazarus Chakwera defeated Peter Mutharika of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)?
A: There has not been a real difference from the time the new administration assumed power following the Fresh Presidential Election in June 2020. This is because the majority of the populace today remains hopeless considering the undesirable socio-economic situation amid biting poverty. The Tonse Alliance government rode on the people’s massive political support based on a promise for a new Malawi, a dream that has not been realised.
Malawians have lost hope although the government is trying its best to lay good institutional foundations for good governance. It is hard for the citizens to believe such government political sentiments when they are suffering amid the promise for an inclusive and better Malawi.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognise and appreciate the good works done by the current government in terms of infrastructural development. It has not taken long for the Tonse Alliance government to show its seriousness in changing the infrastructural face of the country in terms of road networks and other aspects of construction. Such infrastructural developments may have the potential to increase employment access although concrete measures to increase youth employment have not been noticeable.
Q: What is your impression about the opposition? Has it been aggressive enough to ensure that government does not go off the rails?
A: Currently, there are no effective mechanisms to check the performance of government. With the never-ending disorganisation of the main opposition DPP due to the incessant intraparty squabbles, Malawians have suffered significant injustice and disservice as Parliament has failed to effectively provide the checks and balances. It was, however, pleasing to see Leader of Opposition in the last meeting of Parliament this year offering alternatives to government by pinpointing a number of challenges within Tonse administration. Unless the DPP and other opposition parties, both within and outside Parliament revisit their actions and put their houses in order, tendencies of poor governance will continue to thrive unchecked. This will mean losing the democratic gains the country has already attained over the years. The opposition parties should optimally utilise the parliamentary committee system for enhance oversight over the executive arm of government.
Q: How do you compare the watchdog role of the civil society organisations (CSOs)under the DPP era and now?
A:During the time of the DPP’s autocratic tendencies, many CSOs wanted political change and perhaps this is the desire for a new regime that many of the CSOs have recoiled and can no longer amplify their advocacy and activism voices to check the current government.
It should be mentioned that with Covid-19 pandemic in our midst, there has been donor fatigue among CSOs and this has affected issue based advocacy amongst many CSOs. It is very clear that the Tonse Alliance administration has been wayward and has shown elements of losing direction to govern, but very few CSOs have spoken out over such governance concerns. Generally, the new government has not been any better substantively and this calls for increased voices from CSOs to provide check and balances.
Q: At the rate the governance issues are rolling, what do you foresee in 2022?
A: The future looks bleak in the country socio-economically as poverty levels among the population [51 percent] are still high, with 20.5 percent of the population still wallowing in extreme poverty. Service provision remains in bad shape although the government has been touting the good performance indicators in reforming the public sector. The careless management of drugs at the Central Medical Stores Trust leading to the expiry of drugs worth billions of Kwacha, problems at Admarc in the procurement of maize from farmers and the logistical and administrative hiccups rocking the Affordable Inputs Programme [AIP] are only a tip of the iceberg pointing to a government that is still failing to handle basic service provision systems. With corruption still rampant as manifested in Malawi’s perching on position 129 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and increased cost of living amid absence of progressive and inclusive social protection mechanisms, Malawians should brace for more socio-economic challenges and need to be more resilient.
Q: How can government improve its performance next year?
A: To improve the situation, the government should take advantage of the ongoing public sector reforms programme by being accountable and transparent to the people of Malawi in its delivery of public policies and development programmes. There is also need for the government to devise viable and inclusive social protection programmes that will deliberately target marginalised sections of the populations such as persons with disabilities, the elderly, the displaced and the urban poor. Arresting corruption decisively will also enhance public trust in the government efforts to reduce poverty among the majority Malawians. With the rising government debt levels it is imperative for the governing to ensure that there is accountability and transparency in debt management in the country. This is because the citizenry has not adequately appreciated the way successive governments have utilised government loans. Investing such loans in noticeable development projects would also make government popular while those governing further make efforts to reduce borrowing internally and internationally.
