* Whole trip cost in excess of K46,282,250 for five board members
* Travel to Dubai comes “at a time when Malawi’s economy is bleeding”
* Management sent the board “even before the recruitment of a CEO”
By Duncan Mlanjira
Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has asked President Lazarus Chakwera to dissolve Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) Board, accusing it for extravagance and abuse of power for attending a two-week governance training in Dubai.
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According to the revelation as reported by Malawi News last Saturday, the whole trip cost in excess of K46,282,250 for five board members and two management officers for the training on corporate governance and regulatory masterclass on Information Communication and Technology at Pinnacle Training Institute (PTI).
It was reported that every board member is entitled an external travel allowance of US$480 per day, which is equivalent to K386,400 — at the exchange rate of K805 to a dollar.
The newspaper explained that for the two-week period, each board member pocketed not less than K5,409,600 and total spent on the board members some K27.048 million.
HRDC’s leader Gift Trapence
While expenditure for five air tickets for all the five was about K7.5 million as each air ticket cost about K1.5 million — in total MACRA spent about K34.548 million.
Malawi News also disclosed the two management officers who accompanied the board — a legal counsel and an economist — got daily allowances of US$400 and US$375, translating into K322,000 and K301,875 respectively.
This means for the 14 days, the legal counsel got K4.508 million while the economist got K4,226,250 and in total, MACRA spent about K3 million on air tickets for the two managers and about K8,734,250 on allowances.
In its statement issued on Sunday, HRDC said the decision by MACRA Board to travel to Dubai comes “at a time when Malawi’s economy is bleeding”.
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“To say the least, with this development, the current MACRA Board does not inspire confidence at all and leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of being gatekeepers, they have demonstrated selfish, unreasonable and careless tendencies.
“How does a board that has been hired to clean the rubble at an organisation that was infested with corruption, nepotism and politicking be the first to go astray?
HRDC is also incredulous that management sent the board for training“ even before the recruitment of a CEO and top management” and asked the question: “Is the Board really in charge?”
“What the message is the Board sending to Malawians. Is this not a sign that the Board has been captured by management.
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“Is this not inducement? Does the Board have the interest of poor Malawians at heart?”
HRDC further chides the Board that this “merry trip” is also coming “amidst the #datamustfall# campaign — the cry by Malawians for MACRA to force internet service providers to lower data rate”.
“This trip clearly shows that Board’s principles are lopsided and they are there to serve their self-interests.
“In the best interest of Malawians, we call on President Lazarus Chakwera to immediately dissolve MACRA Board and have people that are willing to serve Malawians and not the current Board that is bent on personal interests and self-enrichment,” says the petition.
MACRA is a statutory body established under the Communications Act, 1998 to regulate the provision of services in the communications sector in Malawi comprising telecommunications, posts and broadcasting.
Earlier this month, Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako admitted that the costs of internet services in the country are exorbitant but was quick to say that government working out solutions with internet service providers.
