Reforms report not public—Chakwera
President Lazarus Chakwera says the Public Sector Reforms and Systems Review Report submitted to him a year ago is not for public consumption, but a reference for his administration.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday when he launched the National Action Plan (NAP) 2023-2025 for Open Government Partnership (OGP), he said the launch signified his commitment to implementing the reforms, but stressed that the document was not for “public entertainment or debates”.
The President said: “The reforms report that I ordered and that was submitted to me by the Honourable Vice-President [Saulos Chilima] was not a document for public entertainment or public debates that produce nothing, but noise.
“It was a reference document for me as President to use in my own direct engagement with public institutions and public officers that need constant direction on the reforms they need to implement in their respective areas of responsibility. Something I have been doing for two years now.”
In a direct response to The Nation story published on May 29 2023 questioning his silence on the report, Chakwera went to town on the article, saying his administration is already implementing recommendations of the report.
He said: “Last week Monday’s front-page headline in one of the papers read ‘Reforms report gathers dust’ and the accompanying article went on to claim that governance analysts say the President is not committed to the reforms agenda.
“Today, we are here as a direct result of months of work that my office has been doing quietly to advance my administration’s reforms agenda.
“Months of work that our newspapers seem to have not paid attention to. I think it’s high time that newspapers understood that just because they have not been paying attention or being privy to something happening in government, doesn’t mean that it is not happening.”
Ironically, for at least one week prior to the publication of the story the State House Press Office did not respond to The Nation questionnaire on the status of the implementation of the report.
The President highlighted that if he were not pursuing reforms, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs would not have made progress in the negotiations for the extended credit facility with the International Monetary Fund.
He said: “We would not have secured the $350 million Millenium Challenge Compact, because to qualify for that compact required implementation of reforms that pass the scorecard our development partners gave us.”
On the OGP, Chakwera called on stakeholders to work together towards achieving the goals outlined in the NAP.
He said the OGP membership means that Malawi is pursuing reforms that enhance governance and accountability is robust that it meets the standards of global partners, civil society, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, academia and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, governance experts have insisted that the Public Sector Reforms and Systems Review report should be a public document for Malawians to access and use as a reference point for assessment.
In an interview yesterday, governance expert Willy Kambwandira said the expectation is that Malawians should have access to the document to enable them to hold the government to account.
He said: “We find that response very strange, because the public sector reforms were commissioned using taxpayers’ money. We insist that the President makes the report public.”
OGP global steering committee member Aidan Ayakuze urged Malawians to participate in the implementation of the NAP, pay particular interest, monitor, support, evaluate the achievements and also hold duty bearers accountable if they fail to implement the plans.
The OGP includes 75 countries and 106 local governments, representing over two billion people and thousands of civil society organisations.
Malawi got its first membership in 2016 which expired in 2018. However, the membership was not renewed until this year.
