Malawi suspends official travel, JB’s external travel also affected

Barely one week after the Malawi’s major donors announced a freeze in budgetary support, government has with immediate effect suspended both internal and external travels by its officers, including President Joyce Banda.

Government has also warned that those who do not comply risk being punished.

Unveiling the measures at a press briefing in the capital, Lilongwe on Wednesday, Malawi Minister of Finance Maxwell Mkwezalamba said the suspension is one of the expenditure controls and accounting measures for the 2013/14 financial year by the government in line with current economic conditions and the need to improve on management of public funds.

Said Mkwezalamba: “I would like to announce that government has suspended all internal and foreign travel by government officials with immediate effect. This suspension applies to all government officials across the board.”

The minister confirmed that this measure will also apply to the President who has been criticised for her frequent external and internal travels.

He said: “Yes, this measure will apply to everybody who uses government money and resources across the board.”

However, Mkwezalamba was quick to say the only trips government will allow are those that are critical or fully funded by other partners.

“The Chief Secretary to the Government [Hawa Ndilowe] is the one who will be assessing whether a particular travel is critical or not,” he said.

But he added that government is not returning to zero-deficit budget that former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika introduced after donors withdrew their aid in 2011.

Mkwezalamba said: “We are not going back to zero-deficit budget unless you tell me what zero-deficit means. We are just saying we should reduce our fiscal dependency on donors by increasing collection of revenue within the country.”

Mutharika introduced the zero-deficit budget which sought to be wholly financed by locally-collected revenue following an aid freeze by donors displeased with his dictatorial tendencies.

The zero-deficit budget was abandoned last year.

Other control measures Capital Hill has set include an immediate stop to purchase of vehicles by government institutions. Withdrawal of K500 000 and above using government cheques at the bank counter would also not be allowed until relevant authorities are consulted.

Malawi’s donors under the Common Approach to Budgetary Support (Cabs) have suspended their aid for the first quarter of the 2013/14 financial year following disappointment over the looting of billions of public funds by government, ruling party officials and some businesspeople.

Cabs comprises the United Kingdom (UK), Norway, Germany, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU) and the World Bank with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) participating as private observers.