Participants to the Bwalo la Nzika public debate on the country’s ailing economy and public service reforms have emphasized the need for the Malawi government to institute the board manning the reforms through Parliament for its effective operation.
The call comes amid mix reaction from the general public towards the ongoing public sector reforms’ sustainability which are done without a blessing of the country’s August house that play an oversight role on public institutions and policies.
Since inception early this year (2015), a number of reforms has been made on education, transport, health, agriculture which the quarter of the society do not fully understand describing them as haste way of collecting money from people in a bid to finance the zero aid national budget as some reforms are money oriented.
For instance, education experts questioned government the decision to abolish Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examination reportedly to save MK2 billion defeating the core principals of formal education systems which favour students’ assessment through national exams.
Through the public debate Citizen Alliance (CA) in partnership with State of The Union (SOTU) coalition organized on Friday, October, 16 2015 in the capital Lilongwe aimed at soliciting the general views on how best Malawi could fix the ailing economy and positive approaches on the reforms.
The debate attracted participants from civil society organization, faith leaders, government officials, parliamentarians, media, academicians among others whose panel was co-hosted by Mabvuto Bamusi (the Presidential Advisor on NGOs), Phillip Kamangira (Citizen Alliance), Edward Chileka (Eye for Development), Linda Harawa (Youth
Consultative Forum) and Yamikani Jasi (Climate Change Justice).
On the country’s economic recession, the pane lists apart from Bamusi observed that leadership crisis was the major contributor to the current situation saying Malawi’s leaders have not helped the nation with formidable policies to alleviate poverty but rather enriching themselves together with their families, friends and political party members through appeasement approaches,
As the result, since 1994’s attainment of democracy in, none of the leaders Malawi has demonstrated passionately and completely addressing poverty which millions of Malawians are trapped into but rather their self-glorification.
“Economic policies must be in line with people’s needs rather personal or donors’ interest. We need insightful leaders who can invigorate economic growth in alleviating poverty by using local resources available in a transparent manner”, said Chileka of Eye for Development.
Adding on the same, Linda Harawa of Youth Consultative Forum called for government accountability towards the use of taxes being collected saying once the money is spent wisely expect many to pay taxes unlike the current trend where gross misuse of public funds starts from the highest office of the land, the presidency.
On public reforms, general outlook was that the initiative was done without proper consultation from the general public saying the reforms were supposed be gradual not haste which many Malawians don’t understand.
“Any practical policy direction change is always gradual with proper consultation whose implementation is sustainable. But what we have noticed is a political logic unlike rational logic which always has a general populace approach at heart. These reforms should aim at alleviating poverty rather achieving political or personal agenda
which we tied of”, challenges Kamangira of Citizen Alliance.
“If these reforms are done without the mandate of the Malawi parliament, nothing will change as the public won’t take board manning the initiative seriously by checking their works. This is the reason we are calling government to immediately involve the August House for sustainable implementation of the programme as of now this eightieth
time (80 times) Malawi is doing reforms as the previous ones didn’t work due to similar reason of not using Parliament”, observed Yamikani Jasi of Climate Change Justice.
However, Bamusi defended the reforms saying were in the right direction only that what remained was the general public understand and cope up with them. He said reforms must cut across all spheres of life including churches, families, NGOs not only government sectors.
When The Maravi Post asked as whether political parties were consulted on the public reforms, the main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) through its Spokesperson Dr Jessie Kabwira echoed with other participants of the debate saying the reforms were illegitimate since did not pass through Parliament.
“When the reform board approached us, we advised them to follow the right procedure through Parliament which has the mandate for their operations. Just look at its members composition, it’s made of people who have not worked in the civil services while others are just friends to ruling party leadership. So, with that aspect, do you think the public can trust such a board?
“If Parliament won’t be taken on board, don’t expect miracles on these reforms. The August House will assess the composition of individuals working on these reforms and giving right policy direction unlike what is happening now whereas one wakes up in the morning saying we have abolished JCE examination, the other day says tuitions fees for secondary and tertiary education has been hiked without through consultation”, said Dr. Kabwira.
