Securing the public purse
Former Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chariperson Justice Maxon Mbendera (deceased) in declaring winners of the last elections made one critical public finance call. That those elected to lead us should make sure our taxes are protected and invested in activities that will improve the quality of life for all Malawians.
I thought we should continue to have a serious conversation on how public finances are used since prosperity of the country very much depends on them.
In case we forget, some numbers are very familiar. These are 1.7 billion, 63 billion, a 13 billion and a 264 billion.
I am pretty sure the cumulative figures are frightening. Such worth even exceed what the most profitable businesses, banks make in this country. One can only think that the taxpayer was short changed in some way. These are not matters of rocket science, but common sense, manifested in dysfunctional hospitals and schools. Unless, the public purse is protected, the road ahead looks pretty hazy.
The only call we can make is that our taxes must be secured and used to develop the nation that has nothing to show after 50 years of independence, except for numerous coffin workshops in poor neighbourhoods.
The story of political leaders abusing power and using elected offices to enrich themselves appears to be a common African malaise, and Malawi is no exception. A problem with such impunity is that it stifles competition and kills hard-work by providing bumpy ground to some. Furthermore it scares away all potential innocent investors unwilling to pay rent to offshore accounts of politicians or their surrogate family-private trusts. We usually end up with crooks that use our resources, pay no taxes as long as they massage bellies of sleek politicians.
For example, there is a law requiring public officers from the head of state to a certain level downwards to declare their assets. The law is silent and can do nothing if such elected officials do not declare their assets. It is a catalyst for abuse of public offices and is being currently exploited to the fullest. Guidelines for political party funding are quite weak and there is no law that compels political parties to declare their sources of funding. Sometimes one is tempted to think if the Forfeiture Act was re-established with some variation such abuse can be arrested.
In my view, I believe that we can establish a transparency and accountability commission with wider ranging powers, including prosecution, annual compulsory disclosures of incomes and taxes paid by senior public officers up to the head of state including political parties. All senior public officials in this category should file tax returns and declare their sources of income under oath on an annual basis. The Transparency and Accountability Commission can lead the process as an independent body that ensures all senior public officials are accountable for their actions and punitive measures are put in place for any unexplained exponential rise in wealth.
Political parties remain one major conduit through which public funds are channelled. Up to this day, I do not believe that tax payer funds should be given to parties with a certain threshold of seats in parliament. My understanding is that a political party is an association of like-minded individuals that share certain common ideals. Its members must be in a position to fund their activities, and should not put a bill on the tax payer.
My main concern is the fact that we continue to see unregulated political party funding. Consider cases where political parties hold huge fund raising functions and private individuals make some absurd donations that appear no less than an investment in an overpriced government contract. If you can fast track things, one can see the apparent link with how government contracts are given to recover some of these donations, and the tenderprenuer billionaires we create in the process.
We need to put a legislation that restricts the amount of money an individual company or person can contribute to a political party. If properly established, Transparency and Accountability Commission, under an effective legislation will have to compel all political parties to declare on an annual basis their sources of income and publish its list of donors. If there is no compliance, trustees of the concerned parties can be held to account or even have bank accounts of such parties frozen. It borders on intent to defraud the people of Malawi through indirect methods.
To get matters right, there are lot of loopholes in the public finance system that are facilitating such abuse of tax payers money. In a week’s time, we will celebrate five decades of independence. What are we going to show for it? Well I can think of daily power cuts, youth unemployment, poor road networks, poverty of undefined degree, malnutrition, lack of world class medical facilities, mud hats even in the capital and commercial city, lack of clean water, poorly funded universities amongst other indicators of depravation.
Over a hundred thousand students have just started writing their exams, and all need a university or college that cannot accept them due to limited space or capacity. Every year we will have such a number of students or even more sitting for Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) and dreaming big. Where are we going to take them to if elected leaders can willingly get billions of tax payers’ money meant to solve these problems and secure it in offshore accounts?
A culture of transparency is indispensable in any functioning democracy and modern business environment. We have to fight for it and hold our elected leaders to account for their abnormal wealth instead of singing usual praises of “God given presidents”.
Some gods are counterfeit or fake. We need to tell our kids that you can make it life, create a business, and employ others without necessary getting politically connected. n
