CSEC to pressure Malawi govt to introduce tax measures for financing education sector

The Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) and its member organisations have teamed up in what they call a “tax justice movement” that will be lobbying for fair tax collection deals to finance Malawi’s “troubled” education sector.

This was made known Tuesday in the Capital, Lilongwe, during a tax justice meeting organized by CSEC to enable the coalition’s members strategize on how they would go about advancing their movement and advocacy.

CSEC Board Chairperson, Jennifer Mkandawire, told Nyasa Times that their focus is mainly on the cost of financing the new ten year (2020-2030) Malawi Ministry of Education National Education Investment Plan (NESIP), saying the plan has a funding gap estimated at MK5.1 trillion.

Information Nyasa Times has seen shows that the cost of financing NESIP is estimated at MK9.8 trillion with resources from government projected at MK4.1 trillion.

“We want to focus on how do we ensure that the government collects the MK5.1 trillion. How do we guide or provide information to help government raise such funds.

“A lot of financial resources, whether tax or donor aid, are lost through corruption. We want to ensure that government strengthens the tax collection systems by sealing all corruption holes so that, as a nation, we are able to collect enough resources to finance crucial sectors such as education,” said Mkandawire.

She further said the financing to education should focus more especially on school infrastructure, noting that an estimated 2.1 million children in Malawi are still learning under trees.

Mkandawire also said there is need for money to train more teachers and buy learning materials.