PoliticsQ & A

Tracking asset disclosure law

Two months ago, Weekend Nation revealed that 11 members of Parliament had failed to declare their assets within 90 days in office as required by law. In this interview, our News Analyst LUCKY MKANDAWIRE engages Michael Chiusiwa, the director of the Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations to gauge progress on the matter.

Chiusiwa: It would be naïve for listed officers to feign ignorance of their obligations

Q

: It’s two months since the Parliamentary Monitoring Committee referred the matter to your office. What have you done so far?  

A

: The directorate is processing the contents of the report produced by the committee. This is the process initiated by the directorate in line with the provisions of the Public Officers’ Declaration of Assets, Liabilities and Business Interests Act. In a fairly considered opinion, the directorate referred to the committee, the MPs were deemed to have not complied with the legal provisions. Subsequently, the committee conducted an enquiry in line with its mandate pursuant to Section 213 (4) of the Constitution, as read with Section 13 of the declaration of assets law.

The committee findings were sent to the director, who is yet to meet the committee to discuss, among other things, the decision or action that the director will have taken based on his legal powers and the contents of the report.

Q

: The 11 lawmakers flouted the law during the 2019/2020 financial year, what is the situation now in the current fiscal year?

A

: We are still processing those declarations. The process takes long because the declarations are done manually. Manual compilation, including compliance verification, takes time. This delays the efficient and optimal administration of the declaration system.

Besides, we are also short [of staff] on the ground, with only 20 people to serve the entire public service spread across the country. This creates a huge gap and exerts pressure on staff members, resulting in not delivering our service to the optimum. It is only after we are done processing the 2020/21 declarations that we will know who and how many will have declared as well as the identity and number of those who will not have complied.

Q

: The Legislature has its own instrument for monitoring assets declaration compliance, what about the Executive and Judiciary?

A

: The Parliamentary Monitoring Committee serves all listed public officers regardless of the branch of government they belong to.

It should be made known that since the inception of the directorate in 2014, this was the first time the committee has exercised its mandate to enforce asset declarations as provided for under the law. This is, therefore, just the beginning; more listed public officers deemed not to have complied with the declaration law will be referred to the committee for the 2020/2021 declaration period.

There are three categories of listed public officers: political category, senior category and others. The referral to the committee has just started with the political category. The remaining two categories will follow.

Q

: What was the status of asset declaration in the Executive and Judiciary during the last financial year?

A

: Since we started operations in 2014, generally, there has been an improvement in quality and efficiency each passing year, not only from the Executive and Judiciary, but also all listed public officers. The improvement could be attributed to efforts undertaken to make the listed public officers aware of their legal obligations and the advantages of declaring in relation to the overarching government policy framework that discourages abuse of public resources and conflict of interest.

The improvement is also due to the critical role which the parliamentary committee has played both in and outside Parliament in educating, conscientising, encouraging and mobilising listed public officers at different levels to declare. The enquiry, which the committee undertook with some MPs and councillors, is one such tool which has assisted a lot in this regard.

Q

: Your office set aside K13.1 million for reforms on the declaration of assets law and enforcement of penalties for defaulters. What is the progress so far?

A

: Law reform is one of the three pillars the directorate has identified in its reform agenda in line with the Public Service Reform Programme. The exercise is going on well and it is encouraging. Currently, the Malawi Law Commission is working on the law review. It should be noted that the three reform areas the directorate is implementing are review of the Act, introduction of online declaration system and digitalisation of the (internal) declarations records management system. Meanwhile, we have completed the latter reform area. Almost all the declarations in our custody since 2014 have been digitised.

Q

: Any word for the listed officers yet to comply?

A

: The directorate urges all listed public officers to take the declaration of assets with all the seriousness it deserves by submitting their declarations truthfully and in time. Late submissions will not be tolerated unless there are valid reasons for missing deadlines. Section 18 of the public officers’ declarations law  is clear that failing to declare, without reasonable cause, is an offense and it will be strictly enforced accordingly. Sadly, it has come to the attention of the directorate that some listed public officers have deliberately been defaulting, sometimes through connivance within the public service bureaucracy or system. Currently, we are combing across the bureaucracy and appropriate action is being taken in line with the dictates of the Act, the Constitution and any written law. By now, it would be naïve for any listed public officer to feign ignorance of his or her legal obligation as far as the declaration regime is concerned. I, therefore, appeal to all responsible officers, including the custodians of institutional information such as personnel data, to desist from being accomplices in breaking this law.

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