Donors stop funding departments, police over Fisp
In a move analysts have described as a vote of no confidence in the country’s public finance management systems, donors financing the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) have stopped giving government departments, including the Malawi Police Service (MPS), direct financial injection to carry out activities under the programme.
The donors are instead channelling their funds through other stakeholders, including non-government organisations such as the Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM).
Confirming the change, the United Kingdom (UK) development arm, the Department for International Development (DfID) which is among the major donors under support Fisp, confirmed in an email response that the UK has stopped channelling resources through government systems.
“The Malawi Police play a critical role working with communities for the transparency and security of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp). The UK continues to fund the Malawi Police to effectively provide these services. As the UK is no longer channelling funds through Government systems following Cashgate, these funds go through the Farmers Union (FUM) who are also monitoring implementation of Fisp,” said the statement from DfID.
However, DfID could not immediately reveal whether the move was permanent and whether it will also involve other government programmes.
Reacting to the development, governance expert and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) national coordinator Chris Chisoni said the move was an indictment of the continued mistrust by donors on the whole government system.
“On the surface, it may appear as if the donors have singularly lost trust in Malawi Police Service alone, but the truth is all government departments following the Cashgate have serious concerns of financial management system to deal with. Following Cashgate, it’s a general understanding now that government needs to put its financial management system in order,” said Chisoni.
However, Inspector General Loti Dzonzi on Friday said the MPS has never directly dealt with donors but the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Donors have never funded us directly. We deal with the Ministry of Agriculture. The money is for allowances of officers and is directly paid through the Ministry of Agriculture. We have never received any complaints from the Ministry of Agriculture. We don’t deal with donors on the handling of the programme,” said Dzonzi.
A 2013 report by Transparency International (TI) ranked Malawi Police Service as the most corrupt institution in the country on Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) which measures public perceptions on corruption followed by the public service, political parties, education institutions and medical and health services.
