By: Lloyd M’bwana
Even efforts to change its image to the Malawi public is backfiring on the Malawi Government. According to reporting in Malawi media, a United Kingdom (UK) public relations firm-Business Outlook is reportedly pressuring the Malawi government through Ministry of Information to pay it MK295 million for marketing articles published in the Times Magazine last year amid social-economic turmoil the country is currently experiencing.
The development has puzzled economic experts and Malawi Parliament as this comes at a time when government is struggling to provide essential public services to the citizen including health, education, energy and water among others.
According to Weekend Nation of January 9, 2016, Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe confirmed the transaction saying government through Ministry of Information made an agreement that Times Magazines should run articles as a forerunner to the President Peter Mutharika’s trip to the Africa Global Summit in London.
“We agreed that Malawi government will pay 296, 000 pound sterling. This money will be infused into the Ministry of Information, Tourism and culture vote during the mid-year budget review around February this year. The law allows us to spend sometimes outsides the budget but regularize it whenever the August House meets”, defends Gondwe.
Articles published in the Business Outlook under special advertising section were eight pages themed as Malawi up and open for business, private sector to be engine for growth, reforms helping to expand investment, agriculture the economic bedrock, Malawi a mining country, infrastructure; economic priority and well connected safe and beautiful.
The Weekend Nation newspaper further disclosed that apart from destabilizing the budget the Business Outlook deal has also exposed laxity in strict adherence of procurement procedures as the transaction was not sought nor granted by Office of the Director of Public Procurement which Director of Information Bright Molande accepted.
“There was no formal bidding process. Here was a company that initially came with an offer to assist and later told us we were to pay. Our consideration was that the results would outweigh the investment made”, elaborates Molande.
But Economic Association of Malawi (Ecama) President Henry Kachaje questioned the motive behind such transaction which will increase the already bloated expenditure approved national budget urging government to desist from spending outside the approved fiscal plan.
On his part, Rhino Chiphiko, Chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance was in a dark on the deal, warning government against taking advantage of some votes which were not properly audited by hiding money for transactions.
The 2015/2016 recurrent and capital budget estimates shows that the Department of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture headquarters was allocated MK271 277 735 and MK235, 638 888 was approved for Tourism Development and Promotion (Destination Promotion).
The spending on PR amid social-economic challenges questions President Mutharika government’s austerity measures advocated in the ongoing public reforms.
This transaction is similar to what the former President Joyce Banda conducted in 2013 for hiring a UK public relations firm-Bell Pottinger aimed at cleaning up government reputation on poor governance records.
Later, the same President Banda hired BP to prop up her image in the wake of Cashgate which resulted in donors withholding direct budget support to Malawi till now as fortunate enough BP was not paid by Malawians’ public money.
