Assets office not funded in budget
Treasury has not funded the Office of Director of Public Assets Declaration in the 2014/15 national budget prompting its newly appointed director Chris Tukula to write the Secretary to the Treasury for money to start operations.
The office was established by an Act of Parliament to receive and verify declarations of assets of public officers, including the President and members of Parliament (MPs).
Tukula and his deputy Michael Chiusiwa reported for duties immediately after their appointment last month to beat the three months deadline in which public officers should declare their assets upon appointment or election, but their office is yet to be operational.
Speaking in an interview on Monday, Tukula confirmed that upon appointment, he submitted a three-month budget amounting to K68 million for office rentals, furniture and personal emoluments for initial staff to the Treasury through the Clerk of Parliament (CoP).
Said Tukula: “Unfortunately, Treasury’s response was that there was no money for us as we were not budgeted for and, therefore, not provided for in the three months funding that had already been disbursed to government ministries and departments.”
Treasury asked Parliament to accommodate the Office of the Directorate of Public Assets Declarations within its three months funding, but Parliament had not budgeted for the new office since it is supposed to be a stand-alone entity, according to the Public Officers (Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interests) Act.
Due to the unavailability of funding, offices and stationery, Parliament has been forced to take up the role for the new office such as receiving declarations as submitted by the President, the Vice-President and MPs.
“With the absence of an office and a proper system, we cannot provide the public any access to declared information upon request as required by law and we cannot tell where we are located. We are hopeful that this will be resolved as soon as possible and that the office will be fully operational to serve Malawians as provided by the law,” he said
But Tukula added the absence of an office and secure filing system meant that declarations which have been made so far by some public officers remain in sealed envelopes and securely kept by the office of the Speaker of Parliament as a temporary measure.
Acting CoP Roosevelt Gondwe confirmed that his office was able to facilitate operations of the Assets Declarations office in the meantime.
“We are still discussing with Treasury to give us appropriate direction on how the expenditure on this office will be reflected,” Gondwe said.
In the 2014/2015 budget, the National Assembly has been allocated K6.3 billion.
As a new governance institution, the office is meeting similar challenges which the Anti-Corruption Bureau faced upon its establishment.
However, Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya insisted the new institution has been funded under constitutional bodies, but a check in the budget documents does not indicate such an allocation.
Civil society commentator Timothy Mtambo said by not financing governance bodies was one way in which government cripples operations and stifles human and governance issues in the country, citing the Malawi Human Rights Commission.
He also described as an anomaly and conflict of interest for Parliament to house the operations of an independent body like the Assets Declaration office when officers in the National Assembly would also be required to declare assets to the same office.
The Act lists 48 groups of public officers required to declare their assets among them traffic and immigration officers, advisers to the President and Vice-President, government lawyers and other senior public officers.
