Non-compliance on AU charters causing economic stagnation
Despite the country signing a number of international agreements, a just-released State of the Union report by Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) and Eye for Development has revealed that poverty and under-development have remained due to failure to implement the various protocols.
The report, released on Tuesday in Lilongwe by the civil society groups, further criticised failure by the government and civil society to bridge the gap between African Union and citizenry.
The report highlights among other things, the country’s failure to domesticate and implement international agreements on mining, corruption, political, economic and good governance plus other general rights.
“Although the ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) has been in existence for nearly over 20 years, corruption remains a major obstacle in Malawi’s development. Recent estimates suggest that almost 30 percent of government revenue is lost through corruption. Recently, this has been suggested by news suggesting that billions of taxpayer money has been pilfered from government coffers in the so-called Cashgate,” reads the report.
The report further adds, while the country has ratified 14 of the 16 policy frameworks at continental level, the country the country has failed to demonstrate commitment to follow up on the same by domesticating the agreements.
The issue of Malawi’s lack of development and economic stagnation is a very serious one. Organisations commenting on this issue must be very careful that they do not contribute to the confusion. If Non-compliance on the EU charter is the answer then what is the question?
It is too simplistic a view to attribute causality between Malawi’s economic stagnation and lack of compliance to some geopolitical regional assembly of nations. if I were to reconstruct the question “why is the Malawi economy stagnant and embedded deep in abject poverty? Surely the answer is not “compliance to some African Union charter. Social issues, no matter how prominent and important they might be, will never lift a single digit in the nation GDP and economic growth. Let us not perpetuate the myth that Malawi is under developed because of all these above listed social evils.
The reall solution for developing Malawi is so momentous that it will overcome all these social evils or to put it differently it will progress “in spite of” the social ills outlined in the article. If the AU charter was such as wonderful panacea then why is Africa the most economic backward continent in the world, to put it bluntly? Seek the real “key” as to how Malawi can develop and prosper and refrain from the temptation of offering forward with suboptimal solutions that will agitate, add to the vibrancy of discussions but effectively lead to destination Nowhere.
No self respecting Malawian, no matter where they are, can be proud of the shameful state of economic stagnation of the past 60 years. Malawi economy is not on the economic growth ladder by any measure to hit a GDP of US20bn, $50bn, $100bn or $200bn in the next 20 years. These are the levels of leaps and bounds that the economy must be experiencing to develop.