UN reviews proposal to end AIP
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has said the United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is still reviewing its proposal to improvement in implementation of the troubled Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).
The country’s human rights policing body made several recommendations to government through the UN regarding the processes in implementing AIP for the 2023/24 farming season. The commission also sent an advisory note to the Ministry of Agriculture on the same.
In its report to the UN committee, the commission also condemned the government for politicising the taxpayer-funded programme and sidelining people with disabilities.
The UN committee has been receiving reports from governments and human rights organisations for selected countries between March 2022 and March 2023 prior to its 72nd pre-sessional meeting.
MHRC deputy director of economic, social and cultural rights Lucius Pendame told Weekend Nation in an interview Tuesday that the UN committee is expected to finalise evaluating the Malawi State Party to which the Alternate Report was submitted around March this year.
“At the end of the process we believe the committee will send recommendations to the Government of Malawi and this [ending chaotic implementation of AIP] might be one of their recommendations should the committee pick it,” he said.
Pendame said it was the commission’s expectation that government was addressing and would continue addressing the recommendations and the concerns beneficiaries have been experiencing with the programme.
“The 8th cohort of commissioners will come up with its updated position during and after the implementation of the programme in this coming season, when it shall conduct a comprehensive monitoring of the process,” said the deputy director.
In its report, MHRC observed with concern that government continues to implement AIP in a chaotic manner, a scenario which not only infringes on progressive realisation of the right to food but also revives the discourse around the utility and continuity of the programme.
The commission highlighted, among other challenges, poor network, alleged corrupt practices and sparsely located AIP retailing centres, making some beneficiaries including persons with disabilities, women and the elderly travel as far as 20 kilometres to redeem their inputs.
The report said a recent research revealed that AIP “does not have clear strategies in place to ensure that persons with disabilities participate in the programme’s planning, implementation, and monitoring in the process perpetuating discrimination against them”.
Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman said in an interview Wednesday that although the leadership does not want to call for help from other capable Malawians, he hoped the ministry would adopt some, if not all, of MHRC’s recommendations.
