By Esther Banda

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Enhancing Social Accountability for better outcomes of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III) has been singled out as a roadmap monitor to prevent failure but achieve development goals.

Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) Board member Dr. Anne Conroy said this during a round table discussion Friday night  organised with the National Planning Commission (NPC) to understand transition processes from the failed Vision 2020 to the new Malawi 2063 Vision.

Dr. Conroy, whose organisation is implementing a five year social accountability program with support from the IM Swedish Development Partner, assembled various experts to bang heads.

She observes is clear that Malawi is facing challenges which derail sustainable economic growth rate.

“Vision 2063 established a baseline economic growth rate of 4.2 percent. Unfortunately, this is not being achieved due to current Covid-19 pandemic which has heavily affected employment and incomes. The pandemic has led to a reduction in revenue collection and an increase in expenditure. This will widen the fiscal deficit and further increase domestic debt,” she observed.

“As Vision 2063 notes, Malawi holds MK4.1 Trillion in debts (about US$5.5 billion). The stock of public debt has increased from 59.6 to 64.6 percent of the Growth Domestic Product – GDP between 2019 and 2020. Government has {therefore} to allocate 22 percent of the budget to debt service obligations. This is likely to divert resources from other critical development areas. MEJN and other Civil Society Organizations were at the forefront campaigning for debt forgiveness in the early part of this century but debt levels are now higher than ever,” Dr. Conroy noted with concern.

NPC Director of Programs Grace Kumchulesi said the meeting was helpful in providing practical suggestions and inputs from key stakeholders.

“We have found this meeting to be really useful in providing suggestions. Most of things that were raised have already been incorporated into the 10 year implementation plan. So it’s really just a matter of reflecting on how some of the things can be captured for example, the vision itself being Youth Centric, how can we tell interventions and strategies to really make sure that young people are taking part in the implementation of the Malawi 2063.”

Echoed political commentator who is also Institute for Policy Research and Interaction Executive Director Dr. Henry Chingaipe explained that the development agenda is practical and it is a good timeline even though it sounds like it is too far.

Dr Chingaipe says; “If that is a perspective, I would say the agenda is practical because the things that are in there will not have to wait for 2063. They have to be implemented now, in the near future and so on, reaching 2063 means that we are looking at cumulative results over a long period of time.

“It does sound like it is too far and maybe we should be setting benchmarks or timelines that are much earlier than 2063. But here is the issue, 2063 is the timeline for the vision but the vision will be realized using short term plans of 10 years.”