Austerity measures under microscope

 Human rights defenders and the opposition have questioned the effectiveness of newly introduced expenditure control measures on government officials due to their perceived silence on the presidency currently at the centre of unlimited travel debate.

The measures, outlined in a memo dated August 7 2023 from Treasury Secretary McDonald Mafuta Mwale, have restricted external travel for Cabinet members, principal secretaries, directors of government ministries, departments and agencies and CEOs of State-owned entities.

These measures, according to the Mafuta Mwale, aim to stabilise the country’s economy grappling with rising inflation and foreign exchange scarcity.

Reads in part the memo: “Malawi is currently facing harsh economic conditions with inflation rising to 27 percent for June 2023 and experiencing acute scarcity of foreign exchange pressure on the exchange rate.”

Unlike the previous round of restrictions which limited the President’s external travels, this time around, the Treasury has not explicitly prescribed any.

Last year, Chakwera introduced austerity measures that included limited external travel and reduced fuel allowances for Cabinet members.

While the Treasury says those measures led to some savings, it adds that the ongoing economic challenges have necessitated the continuation of expenditure control.

Mafuta Mwale explains: “Those measures contributed towards the realisation of some savings on the external travel budget lines.

“However, the economic shocks that necessitated the austerity measures last year are still prevalently affecting our country’s economic performance.

“As such, there is still a need to continue implementing the expenditure control measures in the current year.”

The recent memo specifies that external travel at Cabinet level should be restricted to essential trips approved by the President.

It adds that the number and composition of delegations travelling abroad will be vetted by the Secretary to the President and Cabinet.

“Where external travel is donor funded, there shall be no government financial outlay in form of top-up allowances towards such travel,” reads the memo.

But Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) national chairperson Gift Trapence expressed disappointment, stating: “Malawians expect the President to be the first to  commit and comply with these expenditure controls.”

He doubted the government’s commitment to implementing the measures.

“Such policies have yielded nothing before. It has been business as usual, especially on presidential external trips.”

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana argued that the President should lead by example and implement the measures more rigorously.

He emphasised, “The President should be the first to live the measures by limiting his trips and not only his Cabinet.”

Meanwhile, the Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency called for transparency from the President’s office, highlighting the need for him to outline his commitment to the austerity measures.

The centre’s executive director Willy Kambwandira stressed: “Malawians need to know how the President will be managing or restricting his travels. In the absence of that information, we can only treat this memo as a smokescreen.”

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa portrayed the measures as laughable.

“I have actually laughed when I saw the circular from Secretary to the Treasury to controlling officers about expenditure controls.

“The circular is actually a waste of time. What he [Mafuta-Mwale] should have done was to book an appointment with President Lazarus Chakwera to tell him in the face that he should tame his penchant for travelling,” he said.

Nankhumwa continued: “Leadership is largely about demonstrating that which you preach others must do. We have said this for the umpteenth time that the President is the biggest culprit in as far as draining the scarce forex is concerned.

“His actions, such as frequent travels, seem to contradict the austerity measures set by his own government. There’s a

clear deviation from these expenditure control measures.

“President Chakwera continues to travel both local and international as though he lives in a different world away from the suffering of a majority of Malawians.”

The Mulanje Central legislator painted the economic challenges facing the country as an “indication that the Tonse government is not getting things right when it comes preserving the public resources.”

“For instance, Malawi is currently facing the worst shortage of forex ever, and one is safe to conclude that this occurrence has been compounded by President Chakwera unending hunger to international trips.

“Chakwera must be the first person to take stringent measures to stop the bleeding of our coffers as Malawi is now on her knees with no forex to buy fuel, drugs, raw materials for production among other things,” Nankhumwa said.

Responding to the criticism, Minister of Information and Digitilisation Moses Kunkuyu defended the President’s actions, stating that Chakwera has accepted invitations for essential meetings that contribute directly to economic recovery.

Kunkuyu also pointed out that some trips were financed by the inviting parties themselves.

“Good examples are his trips to Ghana and China. The President has over 100 invitations to travel outside the country, but only undertakes essential ones.”