PAC warns of civil disobedience: Malawi sitting on governance time bomb
The Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a quasi-religious body and governance watchdog, has warned a huge civil disobedience campaign if the government fails to implement recommendations which delegates to 5+1 All-Inclusive Stakeholders Conference in Blantyre made to President Peter Mutharika’s administration including independence of oversight institutions.
PAC board said all recommendations made by delegates at its conference were plausible and require actions to be resolved.
“The state of governance and public trust are not satisfactory at the moment,” reads a communiqué issued at the end of the PAC board meeting held in Blantyre.
.However, the board which includes the watchdog’s five mother bodies which are Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) and Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM), also said it fully supports demonstrations by civil society organizations and interest groups if there will be inaction on the recommendations since the law provides for such actions in a democratic society.
“ Lack of enforcement on corruption incidents and poor state of governance have eroded the trust bestowed upon the state. If left unchecked, indeed demonstrations or civil disobedience could occur,” it said
“That CSOs and Interest groups have the right to conduct peaceful demonstrations should there be no action on their recommendations since the law provides for such actions in a democratic society. PAC believes that this should be a last resort once all remedies for yielding results have been exhausted ,” reads a communiqué.
PAC notes that the “timeframes” given by the delegates at the conference “demonstrated the need for urgency in tackling national issues.”
However, presidential adviser on civil society organisations, Mabvuto Bamusi, has condemned the quasi-religious body for giving “timeframes” and a statement warning civil disobedience.
“It is a careless communication,” said Bamusi.
Bamusi said government will respond to PAC’s position after analysing the communiqué thoroughly.
But the board said the “timeframes” on the recommendations are “conference timeframes” as set by the delegates, saying PAC and government may review them.
The communiqué signed by PAC chairperson the Very Reverend Felix Chingota and the organisation’s spokesperson Father Peter Mulomole disclosed that they were open to dialogue with government as soon as possible to ensure the raised resolutions are implemented.
“Pac’s baseline was premised on the fact that dialogue between Pac and Government did not materialize, and there was no formal feedback from government on resolutions and the way forward,” reads part of the communiqué which Nyasa Times has seen.
PAC said it conference prioritized aspects of advocacy and dialogue for the establishment of a roadmap which the governance watchdog will define with proposed scenarios.
“Should there be failure to tackle recommendations from the conference, delegates defined actions to be taken as a way reclaiming their destiny,” said PAC in the communiqué.
The grouping also pointed out that government constructively responded to previous resolutions, and that it welcomed the implementation of some All –Inclusive conference recommendations such as National Planning Commission and Access to Information Acts, adding other resolutions , there was work in progress.
It said the Executive and Pac need to “ urgently engage each other” to tackle the prioritized recommendations and resolutions to avert mass protests.
“We observe that most recommendations still fit into previous resolutions demonstrating their importance in the current state of affairs,” further reads the statement.
PAC played a critical role during the transition from one party dictatorship to multi-party democracy system of government in the early 1990s.
The body has remained relevant since and stood the test of times.
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