The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) plea to discharge a case where five civil society organisations (CSOs) want the party to pay back K13.5 million it got from parastatals during its dinner and dance dubbed the Blue Night has been dismissed by the High Court in Zomba. DPP is alleged to have solicited the from […]
Caution has been sounded as Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwe—who is under pressure over the K4 billion allocation to legislators that critics say is irregular—has invited civil society organisations (CSOs) pushing for his resignation to a meeting to explain the matter, with governance activists saying dialogue should not replace the essence of […]
Prof. Patrick Lumumba of Kenya, once said that in Africa the shortest route to ill gotten wealth is political leadership. This is the main agenda for some people who aspire for political leadership. Their claim that they want to lead to serve the people in their countries is not true. The truth is that such […]
Four leading Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and some activists have demanded Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe to immediately resign because of allegations of abuse in his role for government to allocate K4 billion to 86 parliamentary constituencies. In a statement issued on Wednesday and made available to Nyasa Times, the CSOs […]
Executive Director for Nice Trust, Ollen Mwalubunju, says it is only when the public is empowered that it can demand for transparency and accountability from people in leadership positions. He made the remarks Monday during the opening ceremony of two-day training on public expenditure tracking which Nice Trust staff is undergoing in Lilongwe with the […]
Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya has ordered Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to investigate members of Parliament who are suspected of mismanaging Constituency Development Fund (CDF) money and risk possible arrest and prosecution. The order comes after President Peter Mutharika demanded accountability from MPs when he addressed the National Assembly last week Friday during the State […]
Blantyre District Council has not reconciled its four financial accounts since 2011, a development that has not pleased councilors, it has been learnt. The four accounts are the Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT), Local Development Fund (LDF), Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and Operation’s Fund. This came to light during a full council meeting on September 29, […]
The parliamentary committee on Social and Community Affairs has backed the proposed me Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Act that will ensure that local organizations should make full disclosure of their financial sources and use as one way of being accountable to the communities they serve. The committee’s Chairperson Richard Chimwendo-Banda said that the new Act will […]
A political and social commentator Emily Mkamang has said the opposition parties, including the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), were justified to petition government on 17 points they believe positive action would enable the country to successfully implement public sector reforms and attain accountability and transparency. Mkamangs in quotes reported in the local press said many Malawians are worried […]
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly has accused Chiradzulu District Council of lacking seriousness in the delivery of services to the community. The accusation was made Wednesday during a meeting which PAC convened at the boma with council stakeholders following the council’s failure to produce financial reports for the past five years. […]
A prominent Chancellor College-based political analyst, Boniface Dulani has backed calls by the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) board for the local NGOs to be accountable and transparent to the citizenry. Recentry, the board demanded that all NGOs should be submitting their annual report annually to the general public as required by the law so that the people they […]
The government of Malawi and the UN have expressed concern and worry over increasing incidents of non transparency and non accountability in some non governmental organisations and civil rights groups in Malawi. Minister of Gender, Disability and Social Welfare Jean Kalirani said this on Thursday in Lilongwe during the opening of a tranparency meeting in […]
The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has said President Peter Mutharika should uphold principle of accountability and stop the dislikes of any ultimatums. Mutharika admittedly takes no ultimatums. He recently told off campaigners for the long neglected Access to Information Bill in Parliament: “If you give me deadlines, you are wasting time.” During the […]
The paradox that is Malawi is this: Malawi has so much potential, so much international support, so much potential for economic and political growth, and yet it is the poorest of nations, one of the more corrupt nations and one of the most oppressed peoples. I call it a paradox, others call it a puzzle. Whatever you […]
Not long ago, we celebrated the passing of the infamous one party era and trusted in a new-fangled political life. Affirmatively, we were gripped by the airstream of transformation and subsequently a fresh political realization fashioned manifold rival parties electorally outperforming each other to form government. This change has come at an economic expense necessitated […]
A recent Mail & Guardian Africa article reporting on a new survey findings by a US-based pollster, Gallup, which hinted that even though the traditional economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), household income and unemployment stats are ‘the most heavily relied on by policy-makers, these measures underplay the importance of people’s happiness. Looking […]
It is over 13 months since Malawi wake up to a story of a near fatal shooting of the then Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance, Paul Mphwiyo. It is this story that sparked revelations of systematic looting of government resources (cashgate). So far, there have been two convictions and over 70 arrests in […]
Speaker of the Malawi National Assembly, Richard Msowoya, has challenged students and all citizens in general to call their Governments to accountability if they truly want to see change. Msowoya made the challenge in Mzuzu on Friday when he held a public lecture at Mzuzu University. “The problem with us [Malawians] is that we are […]