Who will stop the vultures?

The Malawi Parliament on Wednesday approved the 2022/23 K2.84 trillion National Budget. This effectively gives ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) the lifeline to spend the money. 

With this development, Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe who presented the fiscal plan on February 18 2022, must be the happiest person this week. This is after all the hullaballoo about some budget allocations, such as the K14 billion to State Residences. This amount to State Residences was more than double the previous year’s allocation to Plot Number One. What drew most blood was the proposal by the Parliamentary cluster comprising members of the Public Appointments and Commissions, Statutory Corporations and State Enterprises to increase the State Residences’ allocation by an additional K8.1 billion.

The cluster argued that State Residences were in a dilapidated state, with non-functioning cold rooms, lifts and a lot of underground water leakages at both Sanjika and Kamuzu palaces. These faults were said to be raising water bills. The cluster also recommended an additional K2.5 billon allocation to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) “for it to function effectively”. Again, the proposal for the increase is despite the fact that the OPC budget of K22.3 billion is almost double the previous year’s allocation of K12.3 billion.

As with all fiscal plans, the success of the 2022/23 National Budget lies in its implementation. This means that real work not only for the Executive but also for Parliament as a whole begins now. While the buck stops with the Executive as the manager of Account Number One, the responsibility of ensuring that the budget is implemented as approved rests with the whole Legislature. It is not for fun that we have backbenchers headed by the Leader of Opposition and whose role is to provide checks and balances on the other branches of Government. They are not bankrolled for nothing but to ensure that the resource envelope is properly ring fenced and benefits all Malawians.

Proposals such as the ones above for additional funding to State Residences and OPC are pointers about where the Executive will sooner or later overspend if watch groups such as the opposition and the media close their eyes. How? You and I know better.

Talking about the opposition (specifically the Democratic Progressive Party), for it to effectively do such a job, it must have a spine. In its current state of disintegration, it does not have the slightest semblance of something that can stand up against the excesses of the Executive. If anything the members are busy pushing each other over the cliff. They are not helping the taxpayers get value for their money. And the Tonse Alliance members must be happy with the status quo if not helping to fuel the mess.

What should worry us more is that State Residences, OPC and State security entities are not audited. This fact alone is enough to fortify their malfeasance which they carry out with wreckless abandon.

So far, the Opposition in Parliament has relegated its responsibility to two sections of the society. These are the media and some unstructured mercenary groups who once in a while hold demonstrations. We have civil society groups which previously could have been rallying people for a good cause and there are many such causes. But groups, such as the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), while doing a good job in raising the alarm on social injustices such as corruption, need to up their game to be fully appreciated. The one job HRDC could be commended for is that of a whistle-blower against corrupt activities. They seem to have partnered well with mainstream media. But they could do more.

The K2.84 trillion national cake is for all Malawians from Nsanje to Chitipa and Mchinji to Nkhotakota to enjoy. But the vultures  also have their eyes trained on the same.