Press Release - By Chrr, Cedep and Pace - Net

7/31/2019 Press Release - By Chrr, Cedep and Pace - Net

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and everything, he was the, Messiah, Mose wa lero, the Politician, the Economists, the Father of the

Nation, the Dictator, the Manipulator.

It is not a secret that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led government left Malawi heavily

bleeding on all fronts be it on governance, human rights, economic and political. Really, everyone

wondered whether the DPP government cared about its people it claimed to represent. The nationnoticed unpopular and undemocratic bills being passed in parliament with reckless abandon, human

rights as were rendered luxurious; embarked on heavy crackdown on human rights defenders, political

dissidents were ruthlessly smoked out and donors were told to go to hell. It was disaster, it was

unfathomable!

The 100 days of President Joyce Banda rule has therefore to a greater extent been spent on trying to

mend the fences broken and correct mistakes made by the DPP regime. She has invested more of her

energy and time trying to right the wrongs that DPP government created. She has been up and down

trying to fix and mend the diplomatic and international relations, panel beating the ailing economy,

convincing our development partners to resume aid to Malawi, improve our human rights environment

among other things.

The past 100 days have witness much national changes and development. To considerable extent, the

changes and developments have been positive and beneficial, especially in the areas of the good

governance and economy. But many negative developments, too, have been experienced which if not

checked now might have their negative impact on the country and leave Malawians frustrated and

bewildered yet again.

A distinctive and positive feature that has characterized the 100 days of President Joyce Banda

administration has been her inclusiveness, contact and dialogue kind of leadership, a direct contrast to

her predecessor Prof. Bingu Wa Mutharika. No question this has been a mark in view of her going intopower with her Peoples Party (PP) as a minority party.

Towards Nation-Healing and Unity

Cognizant of the deep economic, governance and political wounds inflicted on the soul of the countrys

nationhood by the DPP administration, President Joyce Banda immediately embarked on a healing

mission. In her inaugral speech, she called on Malawians to leave the troubled past behind them; but,

instead, cast eyes on the future with hope and prayers. Her statement was further reinvigorated by her

State of Nation Address on the 18th of May, 2012 in which she outlined her vision for the country,thereby renewing the blurred hope among many Malawians.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. I have a dream speech, during the State of the Nation address of the

just ended budget sitting of parliament, President Joyce Banda dwelt much on attempting to shake off

the devil that has been on the countrys back for the previous three years by among others; promising

the country to respect rule of law, equality, political tolerance, respect for human rights, including rights

of sexual minorities, media freedom and economic growth.


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Democratic Governance

Rule of law

President Joyce Banda regime took off from a good note as evidenced by the peaceful transition of

power despite facing some challenges as some individuals who allegedly wanted to use un constitutional

means of change by not recognizing the Vice President to take over as the next President. Throughout

the 100 days President Joyce Banda has been at the helm, the rule of law has to a greater extent

prevailed in Malawi.

Worth noting is Malawis stand in the respect of international laws and obligations when President Mrs.

Joyce Banda led government took a bold stand in giving up hosting of the 19th Summit of the African

Union to respect the Rome Statute which establishes the International Criminal Court which Malawi is

party to.

However much as President Joyce Banda has started on a good note we at CHRR, CEDEP and PACE-NET

would like to humbly flag out a number of concerns for her government attention which include the

following:-

Declaration of Assets

Since assuming office, President Mrs. Joyce Banda and her cabinet have not declared their assets as per

requirement in the laws of Malawi. The importance of respecting this piece of legislation provides for

basis to hold all those that are entrusted with the public purse accountable and transparent.

As demanded by the Civil Society in the 20 points petition presented to late President Bingu Wa

Mutharika, we are therefore calling on President Mrs. Joyce Banda and her cabinet to declare her assets

as required by our Constitution in order to bring Constitutional order and to avoid unnecessary

speculations.

Section 65

President Mrs. Joyce Bandas led government has shown little in safeguarding and respecting the

Constitution of Malawi as she swore on her inauguration. As we have said before, Section 65 is very

clear as it calls upon the Speaker of Parliament to declare vacant all seats of Members of Parliament

who have dumped the parties that sponsored them to Parliament and joined other that is represented

in Parliament.

We therefore would like to remind the President that democracy does not come cheap and we can not

afford to hide behind our poverty in order to apply our laws selectively. We need to abide by our

Constitutional provisions as Malawi is a Constitutional democracy.


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Separation of Power

Apart from the interference of the Executive in the issue of Section 65, President Joyce Bandas 100 days

in office has strived to put a clear distinction amongst the three arms of government.

Parliament and the judiciary have demonstrated total independence of the Executive arm of

government as evidenced by the just ended budget sitting of Parliament.

However we at CHRR, CEDEP and PACENET find it contracting in the appointment of Hon. Ralph

Kasambara as both the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. In our considered view that there is

conflict of interest in the roles that he is playing both as a Legal Adviser to government and his political

appointment as Minister of Justice.

Zero Tolerance Drive Against Corruption

Scanning through the 100 day journey of President Joyce Bandas Presidency, we take it with mixed

reaction her commitment to curb corruption.

We take note and commend the arrests of a number of top government officials and politicians on

alleged corrupt cases. Notably The 100 days has seen the arrest of Anti Corruption Bureau Director

General Mr. Alex Napota, Lilongwe City Assembly Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kelvin Mmangasi and

Democratic Progressive Party Regional Governor for the North Rev. Christopher Mzomera Ngwira MP.

The Joyce Banda administration has also gone a mile in resuscitating cases that were swept under the

carpet during the previous regime. A number of cases of alleged corruption deals have been revived and

we would like to see these cases come to their lawful conclusion without politicizing the matters. These

cases must include the Malawi Housing saga which was part of the Civil Society Organizations demand in

the 20 point petition to late President Bingu Wa Mutharika DPP government.

However, much as we applaud these strides in curbing corruption we are still of the view that President

Joyce Banda government is slowly but surely towing the line of the previous regimes by way of targeting

only those that are deemed to be in opposition in this ant corruption drive. We are afraid that the anti-

corruption drive is certainly once again being used to intimidate, gag and settle political vendetta.

Just like the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) before, the PP isalso unfortunately employing the same tactics of using the anti corruption drive as means of victimizing

those perceived to be on the opposite political divide.

We note the issue of Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) as a missed opportunity for President Joyce

Banda government to stamp its authority and set a benchmark on zero tolerance on public finance

mismanagements, corruption and abuse of public office. Much as we appreciate that government

instituted a Commission of Inquiry into the saga, we are still of the view that the inquiry itself was not


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well managed. We strongly subscribe to the fact that the findings were greatly compromised because

members of the Commission had conflict of interests being Ministers and investigating their fellow

cabinet minister.

To say the least, the findings have unfortunately made a very bad precedent so much so that it will be

difficult for President Joyce Banda to authoritatively speak against public office abuse and promotetransparency and accountability in future.

Appointments and Nepotism

We take note and appreciate that unlike in the previous regime where influential and top most jobs and

positions in government and Parastatals organizations were given to people from one tribe, President

Joyce Banda has moved in swiftly to try and rectify this.

We applaud the composition of her first cabinet where she did not only have it inclusive of members

from other political parties, but she has also tried to have it regionally and proportionally balanced.

This in one way or the other has help to diffuse the tension and has instead encouraged national healing

and reconciliation.

We also applaud the appointments that government has also made so far where merit has reigned

supreme over nepotism. On this we take note of the appointments made of Reserve Bank Governor,

Inspector General of Malawi Police Service, shifting of Principal, Secretaries based on merit to mention

but a few.

However we would like to echo the many voices of concern that much as we applaud President Joyce

Bandas regime in promoting meticulous appointments over nepotism we would love to seeappointments in all Parastatals following the due processes of recruitment as stipulated in the Public

Management Act.

Much as the some appointments are based on merit, we strongly urge government to respect the laws

of this country by way of advertising all vacant posts in the public service and parastatals and let all with

requisite qualification and experience battle for the jobs.

We would like to bring afore for example the appointment of Dr Jerry Jana as the Chief Executive Officer

for Agricultural Division Marketing Cooperation (ADMARC), much as we appreciate that Dr Jana is well

qualified, the fact that he holds an influential position in the ruling PP compromises issues of

transparency and accountability. This has to be avoided if PP regime is to be differentiated from DPP

era.

Public Media: MBCTV


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Much as the President Mrs. Joyce Banda promised to open up the airwaves of the Malawi Broadcasting

Cooperation very little has changed at the state broadcaster. Every news program continues to

bedominated by items on President Mrs. Joyce Banda daily and those close to the circles of power. We

are afraid the space that the President promised is apparently slowly closing up.

We urge government totally liberate MBC from any political interference and let the institution run in aprofessional manner so that every Malawian regardless of their political affiliation should enjoy the

services of MBC.

Conduct of Parliament

The conduct of the Malawi Parliament has generally been encouraging during the 100 days of the Joyce

Banda rule. This can be attested in the way Parliament has conducted itself through the just ended

budget session.

The debate of issues and the budget votes is an open indicator and we would like to applaud the house

including the main opposition DPP and MCP parties for conducting themselves in an honorable fashion.

Conduct of Civil Service - Is it Politicized as before?

While the previous regimes heavily politicized the operations of the civil service President Joyce Banda

100 days in office has seen a shift towards the right direction at least for now.

We applaud her declaration that civil service women stop dancing for her during working hours a thing

that all the previous regimes enjoyed.

However as we indicated earlier there are still some pockets of concern on how some appointments and

firing within the civil service as there are more viewed to be politically motivated.

We are afraid that if government continues to fire top Civil Servants and Patastatals top bosses willy-

nilly the burden will always be pushed on the tax payers who cough lots of money in footing

compensations of the fired staff.

We request government to follow procedures in firing and hiring of Civil Servants.

Democratic Space: CSO functioning - (NGO Board, NICE New Board etc)

While the previous regime was heavy handed on the operations of the civil society so much so that they

even proposed some funny laws just to fight against CSOs, President Joyce Banda regime has started on

a positive note, by way of opening up more space for the operation of the civil society.


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We applaud the PP lead government for heeding public concerns and subsequently dissolving the

compromised National Initiative Civic Education (NICE). We are therefore calling on the President to

constitute a new NICE Board as a matter of urgency taking into consideration the important role NICE

plays in elections matters and general civic education in Malawi.

Without being pessimistic however we at CHRR, CEDEP and PACE-NET are concerned that putting NICEunder the Office of President and Cabinet shall compromise its operations.

We would also like to call upon the President to speedily appoint the NGO Board for the good

functioning of NGOs in the country. It is only through a health, open, honest and transparent

relationship between government and civil society that Malawi can forge ahead in consolidating

democracy, human rights and sustainable development.

Protection of Human Rights, Rule of law and Access to justice

For the past 100 days, President Joyce Bandas administration has made bold attempts to inculcate a

culture of human rights promotion and protection in the country. No human rights defender, opposition

member as well as ordinary Malawians who lived in fear for merely expressing a different views from

those by the state authorities has been arrested on political grounds. No media house has been

threatened with closure or advert ban for rubbing the powers-that-be the wrong way. Instead, her

government has built a cordial relationship with the media fraternity by promising to pass the long-

awaited Access to Information Bill which will ease citizens access to information held by authorities

besides scrapping off the VAT on newspapers.

In her State of Nation Address, President Joyce Banda went a step further towards promoting and

protecting human rights by asking Parliament to review the following laws that impede on the full

enjoyment of basic fundamental human rights:

Section 46 of the Penal Code (Cap 7:01);

The provisions regarding indecent practices and unnatural acts contained in sections 137A and

153156 of the Penal Code;

The Civil Procedure (Suits by or Against the Government and Public Officers) (Amendment Act,

2011);

The local Courts Act, 2011; andSection 35 of the Police Act, 2010

Some of these laws have already been repealed and it is our expectation that a review to all the bad

laws for enjoyment of rights by all Malawians including sexual minorities

Police Conduct


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It is pleasing to observe that for the past 100 days, Police conduct has somehow been exemplary and in

tune with democratic expectations. The new Inspector General, has been on doing a commendable job

in rebuilding the image and relationship between the police and general public and assuring the general

public that the Malawi Police Service will work towards protecting human rights, quite a departure from

the Police under the previous regimes which was used as a terror machinery to against Malawians . The

new IG had even the courtesy to hold a public lecture at Chancellor College where he assured the

University dons of their academic freedom. Thats not all. President Joyce Bandas political will towards

promotion and protection of human rights culture in the country is seen, in equal measure, in the recent

denunciation of the polices shoot to kill decree by the late President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Security Breakdown

However as we appreciate the efforts that the Malawi Police is doing we take note and seriously

concerned on the state of our countrys safety and security. Recently we have noted an increase in spate

of violent crimes including armed robbery, murder, and defilement.

We therefore call upon her government to tighten up security. Further Malawians do not want to hear

of blame games by accusing the opposition for being behind the increase in crime; what Malawians

need to security for them.

We also appeal to her government to constitute a team of experts as she has done in other national

areas of concern to look at security challenges. This should also include how the Malawi police service

can be motivated in terms of modern equipment and incentives to help them deal with the current

security challenges.

Gender and Women Empowerment

Gender equality and women empowerment in various key decision-making positions has been a vague

statement for a long time, not for fun, though. This is the surest way of advancing the society as well

asensuring equal enjoyments of human rights by both males and females. Thus, any step towards

gender parity as well as lifting women from subjugation is worth a deafening round of applause. For

sure, President Joyce Banda administration has expressed keen and, in some way, led the way on

Gender and women empowerment.

In her State of Nation address, she indicated Governments intention to scale up women economic

empowerment activities by facilitating transition of women business groups into cooperatives to make

them commercially viable; and intensifying efforts to link the groups to industries, viable markets and

financing services.

But, perhaps, what could sum up Bandas administration will to stop gragging womens dignity in the

political mire is her reiterated statement to ban women civil servants from dancing for the President

during the government functions as well as political rallies. Very few Malawians expected such a


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statement from the Head of State, given the alarming rate of abuse with which women have been

associated and subjected to by both previous regimes of UDF and DDP.

Safe Motherhood Drive

It is an open secret that for all the efforts Government and Non-Governmental Organizations are

rendering towards the cause, there are still some challenges threatening to dampen the countrys

prospects of reaching the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 that seek to reduce deaths of live

births as well as pregnant mothers to a third and three quarters, respectively by 2015.

Driven by her clarion call that no woman should lose life while giving birth, President Joyce Banda has

launched a Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood whose committee comprises

60 percent women, to champion the Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood movement in this country.

This would ensure that there is health life for the child as well as the mother.

All these efforts are worthwhile commending but we at CEDEP, CHRR and PACE-NET would like see

President Mrs. Joyce Banda government commit more resources to train more nurse and retain them in

the health system, capacity primary health care system in Malawi and tackle the issue of unsafe

abortion in Malawi.

Intensification of Agriculture as a saviour to economy.

Agriculture is still the back-bone of the countrys economy and priotising the sector has been President

Joyce Banda administrations catch-word to get the economy back on track and going. In the 2012/2013

National Budget, President Joyce Banda pledged to continue spearheading the pro-poor Farm Input

Subsidy Program (Fisp) while expanding the number of beneficiaries to 1.5 million from last years 1.4 at

the meagre K500 despite the recent 49 percent kwacha devaluation.

This is commendable and likely to boost the countrys progress in food sufficiency while, in one way or

the other, enabling the poor, subsistent farmer withstand the impact of the kwacha devaluation. It is

equally worth mentioning one again that President Bandas administration has managed to normalise

the relationship between tobacco buyers and the farmers as evidenced by satisfactory accounts by

farmers on price of the countrys green gold this season.

However we at CHRR, CEDEPP and PACE-NET would like to call upon the PP led government to desist

from using the Farm Input Subsidy (Fisp) program for political gains as has been the case with the

previous governments. There is need for government to improve the system through which this

program has been to avoid irregularities that has marred this project so far.


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Economy and Donor Relations

That the Malawis economy was in tatters in the twilight of the late President Bingu wa Mutharikas

administration needs no special emphasis. Much of the trouble, however, originated from the countrys

sour relations with the doors over political, economic, governance and human rights concerns. Incensed

and frustrated , donors abandoned Malawi, and the countrys tight spot only culminated into the zero

deficit budget, an experimentary, punitive and bogus financial plan that was not only a great pain among

Malawians, but also left the country with a staggering K70.5 billion deficit. So, President Joyce Bandas

successful attempt to win back donor confidence is so far so very commendable.

Not only that, Malawi has under Bandas leadership managed to re-engage in talks with the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the resumption of the Extended Credit Facility. In the same

breath, the country has worked with the World Bank to develop a Comprehensive Programme for

Competitiveness, Growth and Poverty Reduction that will among others benefit the poor in the villages,

with the proposal for over US$50 million. The US$350 million for energy grant that was put on hold by

the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) over the countrys mismanagement of economy and

governance ills has been released, quite to the relief of Malawians. The countrys normalized relations

with our neighbors Mozambique, followed by an energy deal between the two countries. Equally

encouraging has been the new leaderships efforts to convince the World Bank which has pledged to

support Malawi through pro-poor progammes such as Masaf and public works programs.

The Presidential Initiative on Poverty Reduction through cultivation of strategic cash crops is another

good start that needs concerted and careful harnessing if the country is to really get out of the poverty

trap.

All in all, President Joyce Bandas 100 days could aptly be termed a dream start. But in Malawian

governance set-up, recent history has taught us a bitter lesson that its one thing to lay good

foundations and quite another to build on those foundations. Other leaders started likewise, only for

them to slip into the comforts of dictatorship of no return. Our prayer is that President Joyce Banda will

remain true to these foundations, not as an immediate political expediency, but as recognition that

those are the only virtues that true, long lasting democracy and prosperity thrive on.

Our Appeal and The Way Forward

We are concerned that in the light of the national experience during the first 100 days of the President

Joyce Banda administration, whereby the country has scored some achievements, particularly in the

areas of economy, good governance, rule of law, we may, as a nation, wish to stand firm and steadfast

in safeguarding our hard won democracy or risk drifting back towards the past we thought we had left

behind.It has been said that it takes years and decades to build a democratic society but a blink of an

eye to see it all lost to a dictatorship.


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At the no uncertain cost of being labeled pessimistic, alarmist as well as presumptuous, we would wish

to propose, for consideration as part of the way forward for the remaining days before the next general

elections in 2014.

Genuine National Unity and Reconciliation

We call upon President Joyce Banda government to put in place institutionalized national unity and

reconciliation process which will help bring continued national unity.

We advise her administration to refrain from sentiments which will bring and create more tension in the

country.

Democratic Governance and Constitutionalism

We call upon the Banda government to continue with legal reform and do away with all bad laws and

legislation that are not in tandem with principles of democracy and human rights.

Once again we want to draw her attention to Constitutional order especially Section 65 of the

Constitution.

In the same vein we want her government to come out clearly on the issue of Local Government

elections. we call on her to ensure Tripartite Bill is passed in November 2012 sitting of parliament to

enable us hold Tripartite Elections in 20114. It is important to note that this was agreed at government

and CSOs dialogue process for action. We strongly believe that if Malawi democracy is to come of age

the issue of Local Government election can no longer be relegated to the peripheral.

Economic Management and Development

President Joyce Banda administration should come up with prudent financial management plans to

manage the economy now that the Malawi Kwacha has been devalued as the rural poor need to be

cushioned from the effects.

We also impress upon this administration to institute fiscal discipline to protect meager resources that

Malawi is able to generate against myriad needs of the citizenry. Therefore, we expect the newadministration to redouble its energy in dealing with corruption and mismanagement of public

resources.

In the same vein with applaud her position to sell the Presidential Jet as one way of cost cutting to save

the ailing economy and government spending based on tax payers. We take note that this was one of a

key demand by Civil Society Organizations in their 20 Points petition to the late Bingu Wa Mutharika.


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Attending of Presidential Functions

We have seriously taken note and it does not make any sense to see the whole cabinet, Principal

Secretaries and other government officials follow the President where ever she goes in her official

duties. This is a wasteful of tax payers money and with the new PP regime this is not time to appease

the President, it is time to make a difference and bring real changes, its time for all of us to work

towards rebuilding our nation.

It is also very worrying and costly for our Traditional leaders who also follow the State President

wherever she goes on her official tours and Party functions.

We take this opportunity to encourage the President to put into practice the promise she made to cut

on her international travel as most of these can be delegated to Ministers and other government

officials.

We also call upon her to minimize the internal travels as well if the talk on minimizing public

expenditure is to be taken serious.

Foreign Relations and National Sovereignty

We also want to take this opportunity to encourage the President Joyce Banda regime to continue

strengthening and nurturing the foreign relations that were bruised during the Bingu wa Mutharika

regime. There is however need for Malawi to strike a balance between foreign relations and exercising

national sovereignty.

Many at times most African countries including Malawi have tended to confuse in their exercise of

national sovereignty and foreign relations so much so that foreign relations with most development

partners have fallen victim.

We request the President Joyce Banda administration to exercise with caution our sovereignty in

relation to foreign relations.

Human Right Protection and Promotion

We urge her government to continue with the drive in safeguarding, promotion and protection of

human rights. We want to remind her government to live up to her promise to open up the space to

debate on issue of minority rights in Malawi.

Civil Society 20 July 2011 20 point petition


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We would like to call upon the President Joyce Banda lead government to take time and address issues

in raised in the CSOs 20 point petition on 20 July 2011. We appreciate that some of the concerns were

dealt or have been dealt with but some are still relevant and outstanding and need her government

immediate attention and intervention.

Conclusion

As Malawi is still in transition and we hope President Joyce Banda administration will continue

cultivating the spirit of ensuring that her government win the trust and confidence of the people of

Malawi. In the same vein, we urge the new administration to be accommodative and tolerant to the

wishes of Malawians as cardinal principles of democracy.

Lastly but not least, it is our sincere hope that President Joyce Banda will not take our 100 days analysis

not as negative towards her administration or as one way of undermining her administration.

We are saying this because this has been the trend in Malawi as the previous DPP administration of late

Bingu Wa Mutharika did not appreciate and accept humble advice and constructive criticism. Instead his

DPP administration politicized anything and everything we said without looking at the positive side of

our concerns. What happened then was heavy crackdown on Civil Society organisations and its leaders.

We hope President Joyce Banda administration will not repeat the same and start attacking and

persecuting civil society organisations and its leaders for just reminding her administration on how we

should be governed.

As for CHRR, CEDEP and PACE-NET we will continue offering constructive advice and continue to speak

on behalf of the voiceless as we have done before without fear or favour for the good of our nation.

Finally, Malawians prayed and fought for change, God brought us the change and change has come, its

for us now to take this opportunity to bring fundamental changes.

But the choice is ours as a nation and President Joyce Banda is just leading the way!

Gift Trapence Steve Duwa Undule Mwakasungula

Executive Director Executive Director Executive Director

CEDEP PACENET CHRR

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Press Release - By Chrr, Cedep and Pace - Net

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