Design razor-sharp tool, Goodall
Honourable Folks, as Minister of Finance as well as Economic Planning and Development, Goodall Gondwe, the star economist of Bingu wa Mutharika’s first term (2004-2009), has the leeway to juggle his funding priorities around government economic blueprint with his own GG watermark.
But this concentration of power in Gondwe’s hands may be as much a curse as it is a blessing. If he gets it right and steers the economy out of the doldrums, his ingenuity will be the indelible ink on his legacy and longevity of tenure for DPP-led government will almost certainly be guaranteed.
If he gets it wrong, APM may be the next one-term President and Gondwe would probably have to salvage his legacy from a maggot-infested political pit latrine.
The benchmark is APM’s campaign pledge to grow the economy by 7.5 percent per annum. Gondwe will have to think about how to achieve this and where the money for it will come from.
Most likely he is right now busy with his technocrats trying to put up a realistic 2014/15 National Budget without the 40 percent donor contribution. They say they won’t come in unless government stitches the gaping hole on its kitty.
At the same time, Gondwe will have to figure out how to make good of DPP campaign pledges to increase salaries for civil servants, continue with the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) and introduce another subsidy for cement and iron sheets.
Last year, Fisp alone ate up over K60 billion (or 10 percent of the national budget), yet it did not help make Malawi food secure. While it was targeted at 1.5 million poor households, by the end of the year, government had to provide relief to two million people.
It can’t be life as usual. Survival, let alone growth, in our economic context, is a near impossible feat. There’s no denying that public service delivery left a lot to be desired even in good times when social welfare promises were fewer and donors were on our side.
What more now when government is left on its own while saddled with expensive campaign pledges! I for one would not be surprised if taxes are hiked and broadened while the quality of health services, education, security and water deteriorates further.
But this could be an opportunity to seriously think about the 30 percent revenue that government loses to corruption, fraud, inefficiency and botched contracts.
The gap donor aid shall leave will greatly be narrowed if much of what is wasted is put to good use. In a way, the public sector reform programme led by Vice-President Saulos Chilima, if properly executed and completely de-politicised, can enhance the delivery of public sector services and make the economy benefit from the dividends of enhanced efficiency in government.
We’ve witnessed construction projects which linger on for even up to five years beyond the original deadlines (the Jali-Phalombe-Chitakale Road is a case in point), costing government 10 times or more in the process.
We have also seen government getting a raw deal out of poorly negotiated contracts with investors (the Kayelekera Uranium Mining is a case in point). A hotel in Lilongwe and a university in Thyolo have also taken forever to open and benefit the economy due to inertia which makes government machinery move at a snail’s pace.
Government also needs to come up with a razor-sharp tool that can cut off the fingers of crooks who exact an illegitimate 30 percent tax from the government. It’s a shame that the Bakili Muluzi administration introduced the ACB and yet, the former president himself has a corruption case to answer.
Bingu pledged zero tolerance for corruption policy, took to court his predecessor Muluzi to answer corruption charges and yet he, himself, is saddled with allegations that he amassed assets valued at over K60 billion within the eight years he was at the helm of government.
On her part, Joyce Banda was more into proving that the government of her predecessor (Bingu) was more corrupt to boot than in fighting graft within her own government.
She woke up too late after forensic auditors established that over K12 billion had disappeared from public coffers on her watch, some of it used to buy six buses which nobody, up to now, claims ownership. She paid dearly for incompetence by being shown the exit after serving as State president for only two years.
How Gondwe, APM and Chilima deal with the past is a separate matter but they can lead us into a better Malawi by borrowing a leaf from other African countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria which had ailing economies when corruption was rampant but are now cruising on the super highway when a transformational leader emerged and decided to deal with corruption.
Hurray to Nigeria! It’s now a preferred destination for foreign investors and, more importantly, has taken over from South Africa as the largest economy on the continent. It’s my submission today that the tool that can curb corruption may also prove handy in addressing gaps in public finance management system and help win back donor aid.
