HRDC cancels planned demos but puts Chakwera’s administration on probation with strict conditions

Chakwera given fresher demands

* That the fuel crisis will not re-emerge;

* That there shall be transparency in the recruitment of the new NOCMA CEO;

* President Chakwera should address the serious allegations made against his SPC

* But also, the SPC should step aside to pave way for investigations;

* That Government will impose restrictions on non-essential travel for all ministers and civil servants until the country’s economy stabilises

By Duncan Mlanjira

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), which warned President Lazarus Chakwera that if his administration does not reboot the ailing economic, it is going to organise countrywide protests on December 7, takes note that the Government has taken steps to address some of the problems that it demanded to be addressed.

In its statement issued on Tuesday, November 8, HRDC gave a 21-day ultimatum and issued seven demands of rebooting the system and now that government is taking steps to address the issues, the CSO hopes “there will be no slacking on their part”.

As such, HRDC places government on probation with these conditions:

* That the fuel crisis will not re-emerge;

* That there shall be transparency in the recruitment of the new NOCMA CEO;

* President Chakwera should address the serious allegations made against his SPC. But also, the SPC should step aside to pave way for investigations;

* That Government will impose restrictions on non-essential travel for all ministers and civil servants until the country’s economy stabilises; and

* That Government should work at sorting out all teething problems in the AIP distribution. Government law enforcement authorities should take action against people who stand accused of swindling public money in the AIP fertilizer scandal.

“Although we are aware that some of the issues have been addressed, HRDC continue to monitor the situation to ensure that sanity prevails and life returns to normal.

“Should we feel that the Government is slackening in addressing some of the concerns that we have raised, HRDC will come back to address the nation and advise on how we seek to move forward.”

HRDC’s assessments of the key areas which it demanded actionable responses from Chakwera’s administration included that the fuel crisis be fixed and now takes note that during the last 21 days, “there has been remarkable progress in dealing with the fuel situation in the country as people are no longer queuing as they did when issued the ultimatum”.

“However, we would like the Government to come clear on the measures that they have put in place to address this problem in the long term because Malawians do not want to go back to sleeping on fuel queues.

“Government should explain how it intends to sustain the fuel supply chain. Time and time again, we have noted the Government has been a spectator during times of crisis, hoping that problems would eventually go away on their own.

“We expect the Government to be proactive and not reactive in its approach to the fuel crisis in the country. Also, if we were to believe former NOCMA CEO Helen Buluma’s testimony to Parliament, this fuel crisis is man-made by individuals who are hell bent on driving personal gains above national interests.

“Government should safeguard these national interests and ensure that the overriding benefit in any fuel deal is one that is for the greater good of all Malawians.”

On AIP, HRDC observes “although the prevalent emotion is that of relief following the launch of this season’s AIP, the chaos that has engulfed the initial distribution over the past week points to a more troubling problem”.

“The country has been implementing the AIP programme in its various forms for more than 15 years now and, as a country, we should not be dealing with these teething issues in this day and era. As it was last year, we are told that there are network problems that have been dogging the AIP programme this year.

“Government had all year to sort out the network issues and the fact that this is still a prevalent problem today only points to a level of inefficiency and a complete disregard of the AIP beneficiaries who have to wait their turn all day in the scorching sun or the pouring rain.

“Regardless, Government should ensure a seamless delivery of AIP products otherwise they are manufacturing hunger for the millions of Malawians who rely on this life-saving subsidy.

“Further, we demand Government to take action against the people that involved in the AIP fertilizer subsidy scandal where government ended up paying K750 million to a butchery in the UK. Up to now, the money has not been refunded to the Malawi Government despite assurances from the Attorney General and the people that attempted to swindle public resources are still walking free on our streets.”

In rebooting the economy, President Chakwera was asked “to fire underperforming Ministers and officers and hire people that will help him deliver his agenda” but during the 21 days of the ultimatum, “there has been no action on these demands”.

“So, once again, we take the liberty to remind the President that he himself has complained, on more than one occasion, that he feels that some of his Cabinet Ministers and Government officials are performing below par, thereby sabotaging his Government’s development agenda.

“Our observation is that Dr. Chakwera is sabotaging himself by dithering in dismissing non-performing ministers and Government officials. The President has the prerogative to fire and hire a new Cabinet and he is to blame for his Government’s inefficiency.

“We can thus conclude that the President is sabotaging himself and, in the process, he has lost the trust of Malawians who expected him to do more. We expect the President to use his powers to direct law enforcing authorities to take action against the pilferage of public resources.”

HRDC also takes note that Buluma raised very serious and pertinent allegations during her appearance at Parliament, saying “these were serious allegations that were aimed at the Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) which the President cannot ignore”.

“The President has previously suspended officer and aides close to him on suspicion of corruption and abuse of power. The fact that the President has not taken any action against allegations made against the SPC or commented on the issue, is highly suspicious and gives the impression that Dr Chakwera is shielding her.

“Further to that, we demand the SPC to respond to the allegations levelled against her or step aside to allow the law to take its course. The fact that the SPC continues to carry out her duties in the President’s office while there’s this cloud hanging over her is immoral.

“We urge the President to take action on this crucial matter as his inaction continues to bring the esteemed SPC office into disrepute. The SPC is the engine of the civil service and the heart of government machinery, so it is important to maintain the integrity that this office holds.”

HRDC applauded Chakwera for firing Buluma, who presided over the fuel crisis and also who was effectively fired by the Ombudsman who ruled that her recruitment was irregular and unlawful recruitment.

“However, as we noted in our previous statement, there are several determinations from the Ombudsman that the Government has simply chosen to ignore or just simply disregarded.

“The President and all members of his Cabinet, upon being appointed, swore to uphold the country’s Constitution. This disregard of the law smacks of pure arrogance and gives the impression that the office holders consider themselves as being above the law.

“The Ombudsman’s determinations are legally-bound and everyone, the President inclusive, is obliged to abide by these determinations. If anyone does not agree with the Ombudsman’s determinations, the law provides due recourse.

“Malawi is a country of laws and, as a country, HRDC will not tolerate anyone who feels that they are above the law. That said, we also want to urge Government to be accountable and transparent in the recruitment of the new NOCMA CEO and, given the mess that has engulfed the institution, to ensure that it employs a strong-minded professional to clear this mess.”

HRDC, just as other CSO’s have always demanded, also asked the President to give a directive stopping senior government officials, including Cabinet Ministers and himself, from all non-essential travelling both within the country and internationally.

“The reason we did not put timelines to this demand is because we understood that 21 days was too short a period to monitor if this kind of directive would have an impact.

“As such, we will continue to monitor if such a directive will be made and take appropriate action when we feel that the Government is being reckless in implementing stringent measures.”

President Chakwera has also been asked to “direct law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute all suspected culprits involved in this year’s AIP mess”, saying: “Although no directive has been forthcoming from the President regarding the arrests and prosecution of individuals who led the plunder of public resources in a failed bid to procure fertiliser for this season’s AIP, we take courage in the action by the ACB to monitor the AIP programme to ensure that public resources are used prudently and that only targeted beneficiaries receive the fertilizer”.

“We would like to take time to commend the ACB for being progressive and proactive and we hope that this will be an on-going exercise for many other public programmes.

“We also urge the ACB to extend this safeguarding role to the fertilizer donations that Malawi has received from Morocco as well as Russia to ensure that deserving Malawians benefit from these donations.

“Should the Government want to monetise these donations, it should be done in a clear, concise and transparent manner with clear guidelines on how and who will benefit from the proceeds,” says the statement issued by HRDC national coordinator, Gift Trapence and his team.