Chakwera courts privatesector to rights fight
President Lazarus Chakwera has courted the private sector and donor partners to support the promotion of human rights by scaling up funding to human rights bodies in the country.
The President said this during the commemoration of the Human Rights Day at Chigumukire Primary School ground in Traditional Authority Kuntaja in Blantyre yesterday where he stressed that addressing human rights issues needs collaborative efforts, private and donor partners inclusive.
Said Chakwera: “I call on the private sector and our development partners who claim to care about human rights to put their money where their mouth is by supporting top-performing governance institutions with the resources and tools needed to enforce the human rights laws we have.
“I mention the private sector because they too have a responsibility to observe the rights of Malawians in the way they conduct their businesses.”
The President’s call follows Malawi Human Rights Commission’s (MHRC) concerns that inadequate funding is one major challenge in addressing human rights issues.
In the 2023/24 financial year, MHRC proposed an allocation of about K3 billion, but it was allocated about K1.9 billion, before it was further trimmed to about K1.8 billion during the Mid-Year Budget Review last week.
Recently, government also came under fire after it emerged that the Chakwera administration which demonstrated willingness to operationalise the Access to Information (ATI) Act, appears to have slowed down as Treasury has for two consecutive financial years not allocated resources for its implementation.
The development angered key industry players such as Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter and Parliament who questioned government’s commitment on seeing the Act being utilised by citizens. MHRC is responsible for the Act in terms of oversight and operationalisation.
However, Chakwera yesterday only pledged to increase budget allocation to the three public human rights bodies namely MHRC, Legal Aid Bureau, and the Office of the Ombudsman in the 2024/25 National Budget.
In her speech, MHRC commissioner Teresa Ndanga, a journalist, said Malawians continue to face a number of human rights issues such as economic hardships, limiting access to education, healthcare and employment opportunities that need urgent attention.
She said Malawian prisons face huge overcrowding and poor access to adequate healthcare and nutrition which violate their rights to quality healthcare services, among others.
Said Ndanga: “Malawians are still grappling with the dwindling economy and social livelihoods, including experiences of high inflation, bank rates, caused by high devaluation of our currency.
“Malawians are also experiencing setbacks in accessing effective justice, among others, due to low staffing levels in our courts and low level presence of courts in rural areas.”
Women’s Legal Resource Centre executive director Maggie Kathewera Banda asked Chakwera to facilitate the tabling and passing of the new law in Parliament that would ensure fair female representation in various elected positions.
She noted that with the current electoral system, women will continue to struggle to get a fair representation in Parliament.
Meanwhile, on Sunday night MHRC indicated that it has received 493 human rights related complaints between January and December this year.
MHRC commissioner Andrew Kavala, who is also chairperson responsible for child rights, said among the common complaints were to do with civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights.
This year’s Human Rights Day was commemorated under the theme Policy Reforms, Freedom, Equity and Justice for all. The day is commemorated on December 10 every year across the globe.
