POOR ECONOMIC AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN MALAWI
“Uniting to Resist Poor
Economic and Democratic Governance
“A Better Malawi Is Possible”
CONCERNS &
RECOMMENDATIONS
In legitimate exercise of the rights and freedoms enshrined in
the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, We, Members of Civil Society have
joined hands with Workers, Faith Communities and Concerned Citizens from all
walks of life, to hold peaceful country-wide mass demonstrations today, the 20th July
2011 upholding the theme:“Uniting for Peaceful
Resistance Against Poor Economic and Democratic Governance – “A Better Malawi
Is Possible”. These demonstrations are part of a series of nation-wide mass
actions that will continue to respond to such crises until feasible solutions
have been found and implemented.
Malawi is currently facing a series of catastrophes on multiple
fronts due to economic mismanagement and democratic derogation by the incumbent
leadership and administration. The current leadership and administration
continue to disregard caution and advice regarding the crises, choosing to
engage in empty political rhetoric without providing any actionable solutions
or alternatives. Any dissenting or alternative views result in adversarial
clamp downs, a practice that is unacceptable within the current democratic
dispensation that we all fought hard for and are prepared to defend at all
costs.
The challenges currently facing Malawi are too numerous to mention,
however the following issues may suffice to demonstrate the cause of our
discomfort;
ACUTE FOREIGN EXCHANGE (FOREX) SHORTAGES
Malawi has experienced acute shortage of foreign exchange for
over 2 years, with no end in sight. Indeed, there is cause to believe that the
current shortages are the worst in all our 47 year history since the attainment
of independence.
Significant numbers of people scramble in queues for forex that
may be available at any foreign exchange point, in a pathetic display of fruitless
desperation.
The acute shortages have had many consequences such as:
· scarcity
of products and services due to difficulties in importation of essential
products;
· Malawians
who utilise foreign currency have searched in vain:
◦ to
pay expenses when travelling abroad,
◦ when
purchasing products which are not produced locally,
◦ to
send school fees for dependants studying abroad,
◦ to pay
for examination fees to foreign education providers;
◦ when
accessing treatment for vital medical facilities;
Numerous reasons, such as poor tobacco sales (which used to
provide 74% of our forex inflow has dwindled by over 70%), have been forwarded
to explain the shortage of forex in Malawi, but these show a clear divide
between advice from economic experts and rhetorical defences from the current
leadership and its administration and, in so doing, merely serve to increase
confusion and uncertainty.
However, one fact remains indisputable and that is: the forex
crisis continues to escalate and the current administration has failed to
demonstrate the ability to reverse the situation any time soon.
ACUTE FUEL SHORTAGE: MALAWI IS
NOW LABELLED AS A ‘FUEL QUEUE NATION'
This year has seen the most acute fuel shortages in Malawi in 47
years of independence. A common scene that greets the eyes at every filling
station is extremely long queues of cars, with people waiting for hours or
even, days to get access to a few litres of fuel.
The acute and incessant fuel shortages have caused shrinkages in
transportation which limit people travelling. Service providers are unable to
transport products around the country, leading to shortage of products and
services. Stocks in supermarket and grocery shelves are gradually dwindling.
Critical services such as health services have not been spared and workers face
a daily struggle in commuting between workplace and home. Freight hauliers have
been severely constricted and more disaster looms if the status quo remains
unchecked. All these are visible signs of economic regression which, if not
checked immediately, could result in a total breakdown.
Reasons provided by the current administration regarding the
causes to the fuel shortage have been unsatisfactory and at times
embarrassingly derisive. There has been a clear divide and at times
contradiction in reasons provided by the Petroleum Importers Limited, the
Ministry responsible and the Leadership. However most people will agree that
the current leadership and its administration has not demonstrated to the
nation the ability to reverse the dismal situation any time soon and
the resultant sense of uncertainty merely serves to intensify the sense
of doom and gloom afflicting the nation.
ELECTRICITY SHORTAGES
Never has Malawi suffered more from acute electricity shortages
in all its 47 years of independence than within the past 2 years despite the fact
that, after all these years, only 6% of the population had access to
electricity.
The recent announcement by ESCOM that power cuts will be
implemented for 8 hours everyday for the rest of the year have only increased
the sense of despair amongst the people who cannot lead normal daily lives
without fear of blackouts.
Industries are hard hit with insufficient power to enable
optimal production of vital products which may even substitute imports.
Work-flow is constantly interrupted by equipment switching off intermittently.
Huge costs are incurred in repairing equipment that have been damaged by power
fluctuations and the cost of installing massive generators in an effort to keep
going. Indeed, a classic example is the failure of ESCOM to guarantee supply of
adequate power to Paladin for processing uranium at Kayelekera thereby
necessitating installation of massive diesel generators, which need 3000 litres
per day to ensure production – this meant that ESCOM lost out on potential
extra business of millions of Kwacha every month due to its own inefficiency
and incapacity to be innovative.
It is apparent to most that the current leadership and
administration has not demonstrated to the nation that they can reverse the
situation any time soon in spite of the need for tangible solutions. There
should be a clear time frame as to when the problem will be over. As it
remains, the energy drain remains a pain without any solution in sight.
LACK OF ECONOMIC PRUDENCE
The current leadership and administration has continued to
excessively and irresponsibly squander public funds without consultation and
with cavalier disregard for current economic hardships afflicting the populace
created by the mismanagement.
The list of anomalies lengthy, but some major issues include the
following:-
· In
2010, the President secretly authorised the purchase of a private jet costing
US$13 million - equivalent to half the budgetary support that Malawi's major
donor contributed. The purchase went on regardless of condemnation from different
stakeholders within Malawi and beyond. The amount spent was equivalent to
annual salaries of approximately 5,000 nurses or approximately 11,555 primary
school teachers. The infamous Presidential Jet remains a sore point since it
appears to have no place in an impoverished country like Malawi which must
cater to other priorities such as combating poverty and illiteracy before
succumbing to consumerist luxuries..
· Since
the first Cabinet of 29 Ministers in 2004, the size of the current Cabinet has
grown to 41, leading to a monthly wage bill of over MK15,000,000.00, which
would fund monthly salaries of 428 nurses or 1,000 primary school teachers. It
is important to note that this Cabinet of 41 also includes Deputy Minsters who,
in most cases, have been awarded the position as a reward for political favours
and not on merit. Thus these Deputy Ministerial positions could easily be
vacated without any loss in efficacy;
· At the
beginning of 2011, the President secretly awarded a contract to his wife, the
First Lady, Callista Mutharika, leading to a payment in arrears, of MK6,400 400
for the period before the contract was signed, and subsequent salary of
MK1,300,000 per month – ostensibly for doing charity work. The contract
coincidentally expires at the expiry of term of office of President in 2014 and
was pushed through despite condemnation from various sectors of society. The
First Lady's salary is equivalent to monthly salaries for 30 nurses or 93
primary school teachers.
· The
contract for the construction and management of the (in)famous Nsanje Inland
Port was awarded in a non transparent and dubious manner to Mota Engil, a
foreign construction company who appears to enjoy presidential favour. The same
company is rumoured to have built a palace at Ndata Farm (the President’s
personal estate) and has now won a concession for oil and gas drilling in the
Lake.
Regardless of the above manifestations of economic imprudence,
Government shamelessly offered lame justifications to exonerate themselves
whilst indulging personal avarice without due regard for public responsibility.
CORRUPTION AND ABUSE OF POWER
There are strong suspicions that this leadership and
administration is condoning corruption and abuse of power by a 'favoured few'.
Recently, the Malawi Housing Corporation sold houses to selected
staff, Cabinet Ministers, and DPP officials at grossly reduced prices, leading
to a net loss of over MK100 million. The leadership and administration remain
quiet and the Anti Corruption Bureau appears unable to investigate further
thereby giving rise to fears of officialdom turning a blind eye to such
misdemeanours.
During his 2 terms of office, the current President appears to
have amassed significant wealth that does not tally with his salary of approximately
MK 2,000,000 per month. Within 3 years of being power in 2007, Mutharika
purchased land in Thyolo at an alleged price of MK 70 million. He then
proceeded to develop part of the land at an exorbitant cost which requires
clear explanation to allay suspicion.
Massive corruption appears to be the order of the day. Malawians
witness a few individuals in Government who have amassed massive wealth at
public expense. These individuals build expensive houses, owning fleets of cars
and indulge openly in displays of fabulous opulence that seems to have accrued
without a visible source. The Government may be aware of this but no visible
steps are being taken to stop such malpractices or to recover wealth gleaned in
such dishonest manner.
DISRESPECT OF THE RULE OF LAW
The current leadership and administration has tended to exhibit
deliberate disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Amid public condemnation, the current leadership and
administration abused its majority in Parliament to pass an amendment to
Section 46 of the Penal Code allowing the Minister for Information to ban
publications 'deemed to be contrary to the public interest'. This law has taken
Malawi backwards in terms of guaranteeing media freedoms contained under
chapter VI of the Constitution.
Again, amid widespread public condemnation, the current
leadership and administration has abused its majority in Parliament to pass
the Civil Procedure (Suits By Or Against The Government or Public
Officers) (Amendment) Bill, 2010 otherwise popularly known as the infamous
'Injunctions Bill', which denies supplicants the right to instant relief when
their rights are under threat by any Government agency or officer. The
President recently assented to the bill notwithstanding massive public outcry,
condemnation, a revolt amongst DPP MPs in Parliament and a court injunction
against the assent of the bill
Apart from the bills cited above, the Government passed the
Police Act which empowers the Police to search any house without a search
warrant, the Pensions Bill, the Local Courts Bill (previously known as the
infamous Traditional Courts), a Constitutional amendment on timing and
methodology of Local Government Elections, and the Protected Names, Flags and
Emblems bill which changed the national flag at huge cost whilst dismissing
widespread protest as drunken ravings.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
It goes without saying that the current leadership and
administration is simply not interested in conducting Local Government
elections.
Since election into power, there have been deliberate efforts to
avoid or interrupt the holding of local Government elections in Malawi.
Recently the Electoral Commission was closed (with a questionable abuse of
power) on allegations of massive fraud involving huge sums of money. The
Government consequently reopened the Commission without any official
explanation on the outcome of their initial investigations. The administration
is now attempting to amend the law to allow for local Government elections to
be held after the expiry of their term of office thereby giving rise to
profound suspicion that something is being covered up.
In addition, new appointments will soon be made to the
Commission and these are already raising alarm signals due to the candidates
being considered and the opacity of the process. The neutrality and very
integrity of the Commission may be compromised irrevocably in the public eye if
the matter is not handled with extreme transparency.
In any case, it is quite obvious that the current administration
will not hold local Government elections these 2 terms of office, despite any
constitutional requirements to the contrary.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI CRISIS
The current leadership and administration has failed to resolve
the current stalemate between the University Council and its 2 constituent
colleges (Chancellor College and Polytechnic) despite all the effort and
posturing.
For over 100 days, the leadership and its administration has
remained adamant in refusing to recognise legitimate demands by the academic
staff unions from the 2 constituent colleges, leading to an unnecessary
standoff. This has cost students valuable learning time and disrupted the
general academic calendar.
This can easily be described as the worst crisis in the history
of the University of Malawi, but it has evolved as such largely due to the
intransigence and truculence of the Establishment which takes its lead from the
Head of State in adopting inflexible stances that militate against all effort
at conciliation.
POLITICAL INTOLERANCE AND VIOLENCE
The current leadership and administration appears of late to be
leaning towards tactics that promote violence and intolerance against critics
and those with differing views:
· During
the 2 terms of office, the President has deliberately demonised his Vice
Presidents, thereby deliberately weakening their offices which are enshrined in
the Constitution. The failure to work with Vice Presidents has seriously
disrupted the role of the Office of the Vice President in the performance of
governmental duties;
· In
recent times, the President has deliberately crippled the office of the Vice
President based on personal grudges and differing views. This year, the budget
of the Office of the Vice President was significantly reduced to a pittance. The
President continues to castigate the Vice President in public rallies, calling
her names whilst she continues to hold her peace.
This issue appears to emanate from the thorny question of
succession – i.e. who will take the office if the President is incapacitated?
The Constitution gives that role to the Vice President and this apparently is
the root of the problem because the President wishes to choose his own
successor and is unable to do so whilst the Vice President is in place.
· This
year, the President instructed the ruling DPP party youth cadets to 'protect
him' as a response to widespread criticism on his governance style. The
instruction was followed by the DPP leaders publicly stating that they will use
'all possible means' to protect their leader. Since that instruction, some
Civil Society leaders who have previously spoken on various issues have been
attacked or received threats, leading to general fear and terror. Experts have
cautioned that such public remarks by leaders have potential to lead to
violence or conflict thereby creating a 'culture of fear' that is becoming more
visible by the day.
· There
are many indications that the current leadership does not accept any criticism
or dissenting views. Those who have dissenting views, within the ruling party
or generally, are destined to face violence or adversity in one way or another.
This has led to fear among institutional heads or ruling party officials which
prevents them from offering alternative views that may run contrary to the
Party line.
· Following
a leaked cable in which the British High Commissioner confidentially described
challenges facing Malawi for the Foreign Office in London, the President took
the unprecedented step of deporting the British Envoy from Malawi back to the
UK. This contributed to the deportation of the Malawi envoy from the UK and
subsequent withdrawal of the British contribution to the Malawi budget (30%).
This serves a vivid testimony of the sheer arrogance of our leadership who can
throw out a relationship that has nurtured and supported Malawi for nearly 50
years at the drop of a hat – regardless of the cost to the Nation in general
and the poorest sectors of society in particular.
· When
civil society were organising a 'bicycle march' demonstration regarding fuel
crises facing the country, the current leadership and administration threatened
to prevent the planned demonstration. To obstruct Malawi citizens from
exercising their rights to demonstrate, the leadership attempted to introduce
prohibitive monetary deposits as a requirement prior to holding mass
demonstrations. During the current mass demonstration, there are already
reports of the leadership threatening to disrupt the mass action by mobilising
rabble rousers to disturb the march.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In summary, we conclude that the current leadership and
administration has failed to convince us that the issues raised will be
resolved or reversed anytime soon. As such, we would only be convinced
otherwise when concrete and actionable solutions with short term time frames
and deadlines are proposed.
In light of the raised selected issues, we demand the Government
to take the following steps:
· Sell
the Presidential jet and minimise all foreign trips by the Head of State;
· Ban all
importation of luxury cars (M/benz, Limousines and Luxurious 4x4s). Any new
cars for the President, Ministers or State Officials must reflect our
impoverished state and should thus not be as ostentatious as in the past;
· All
foreign trips by Ministers and State officials must be severely curtailed
forthwith;
· Superfluous
costs such as the new 'eavesdropping' machine being installed at a cost of US$6
million at MACRA merely to assuage creeping paranoia in an unconstitutional
manner must be discontinued and reversed forthwith;
· Zimbabwe
must immediately repay the US$20 million that has long been outstanding for
food supplied by Malawi. The payment can be made in cash or in fuel;
· Scrutinise
all fertiliser imports for the previous year to track the fairness of the
pricing – all those who have inflated their costings must be brought to book
and penalised for the full amount of overpricing as well as harsh penalties for
committing the crime.
· Scrutinise
all fuel imports for overpricing practices and bring the perpetrators to book.
All forex gained through such malpractices must be returned to Malawi
immediately;
· Massive
fuel importers such as Paladin (usage: 3,000 litres diesel per day) must use
their own forex reserves to bring in their fuel and should not drain Malawi's
scarce reserves;
· Allow
independent importation of fuel by any entrepreneur who has the means – this
will break the stranglehold monopoly of PIL and open the market for free
competition;
· Paladin's
exports of 'yellow cake' must be checked to ensure that a fair market price is
being charged and the proceeds are being brought back to Malawi without any
transfer pricing;
· Gemstone
exports must be monitored closely by trained experts to ensure that fair values
are being declared. Malawi may have been short changed for decades in this area
due to lack of capacity and negligence;
· It may
be necessary, in the short term, to listen to the IMF and devalue our currency
in order to gain their approval which would then open the doors for other
Donors to come in and pump much needed forex into our flagging economy. The
inflationary aspects of this can be countered by other anti inflationary
measures.
· It is
essential to immediately mend fences with our long term development partners,
the British Government by apologising for the diplomatic faux pas and making
amends. Their contribution to our economy is too significant to shrug off with
cavalier disdain – especially when it means that the poorest sections of
society will be worst afflicted by the suspension of British aid.
· The
bloated Cabinet must be trimmed to 14 members and their fuel and air time
allowances adjusted to reasonable levels with immediate effect;
· The
newly approved MK 1 million monthly allowance for each Member of Parliament
must be revised downwards to a reasonable level with immediate effect;
TIME FRAME
We hereby propose that:
1. Within
1 month; adopt measures and actions so that there is availability of and access
to forex.
2. Within
1 month; adopt special measures to avail adequate forex to Petroleum Importers
Limited and other suppliers so that they are able to import fuel without
interruption.
3. Within
1 month; the ESCOM board and top management should be replaced with independent
experts who, within 3 months, must demonstrate that the acute electricity
shortages have begun to reverse.
In addition, form a consultative forum which solicits input from
all stakeholders who may have valuable information, ideas and new concepts with
which to tackle the issues of capacity and cost of power generation;
4. Within
1 month, The Anti corruption Bureau should commence an investigation of all
people implicated in the recent Malawi Housing house sale scandal.
5. The
Anti Corruption Bureau should start investigating ALL Cabinet Ministers and
public servants on the unexplained wealth that some seem to have accumulated
whilst holding office. The Penal Code calls upon all citizens to explain the
source of their wealth, all moneys stolen should be returned.
6. Within
1 month; The President should fully declare his assets, explaining sources of
funds to acquire and develop Ndatha farm.
7. Within
1 month; The First Lady's contract should be nullified and all earnings
refunded back to Government.
8. Within
1 month; Law Commission should set up a special law commission to revisit the
Penal Code and the Injunctions Bill, which should lead to submission of
recommendations within 3 months.
9. Within
1 month; The President should demonstrate good faith towards the Office of the
Vice President, starting by returning her official motorcade.
10. The
Government should commit to hold Local Government Elections by end of this
year.
11. The
University Council should immediately reinstate the four lecturers dismissed
during the academic freedom stalemate, and issue a statement committing that no
spies will be allowed in lecture rooms.
12. Within
1 month; The deported British High Commissioner should return to resume his
duties in Malawi.
13. Within
1 month; Issue a circular nullifying the instruction to require a deposit of MK
2, 000,000 for mass demonstrations.
Failure to meet any of these demands will further support our
stand that the current leadership and administration cannot govern this country
in an equitable and democratic manner and that our fear of regressing into an
autocratic kleptocracy is valid. We hope to be proven wrong and pray for a
transformation that will set the ship of Malawi onto its rightful course for
the benefit and wellbeing of all Malawians.
A Better Malawi is
Possible!!
Viva Democracy Viva!!!
20th July
2011
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