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| National |
| MPs public image negative — report |
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by
Denis Mzembe, 09 March 2004
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18:57:52
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The Malawi 2003 state of governance report unveiled at Sanjika Palace on Tuesday indicated that the public has a negative image of Parliament due to, among other things, huge monthly tax-exemption allowances given to Members of Parliament.
“Parliamentarians are paid a low salary of approximately K12,000 ($112) per month. But they have voted tax-exemption allowances of approximately K150,000 ($1,400) per month. There may be reasons for this, but the public image of politicians does not improve with such exorbitant tax privileges,” says the report which has been compiled by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Norwegian and Malawi governments.
It was presented to President Bakili Muluzi and visiting UNDP administrator Mark Malloch Brown on Tuesday.
One of the authors of the report, Haroub Othman, said in an interview that the country should to strive to consolidate its economic independence to feed and depend on itself.
“The country must also consolidate political and democratic institutions and imbibe in the community democratic ethics especially human rights issues. There must be a strict observance of human rights and the press too should be allowed to be independent,” he said.
The report then questions the practice in Malawi of MPs simultaneously serving as ministers in the government while still in Parliament.
“The practice of MPs simultaneously serving as ministers in the government while still in Parliament, or heading government ministries is a questionable development in so far as separation of powers and accountability are concerned,” the report says.
It also decries the state of the public media, MBC and TVM in Malawi, saying the two networks are seen by many as favouring the ruling party and government especially during periods of elections.
The report also says: “There are reports of incidents in the last few years that threaten the full enjoyment of press freedom. This includes trumped up court cases against journalists, invasion of newspaper offices by the Young Democrats, claims of assaults of editors and reporters and economic boycott by government agencies of certain publications”.
Corruption has not been sidelined in the report.
“The general impression one gets when interviewing persons in responsible posts is that corruption is fairly widespread. The so called “maize scam” does not increase public trust in the integrity of leading public servants,” the report says.
Receiving the report, Muluzi himself said he is still committed to strengthening the “pillars” of democracy including the Anti-Corruption Bureau, office of the Ombudsman and the Law Commission.
But he said it would be difficult for his administration to implement some of the recommendations in the report because of the lack of financial resources.
“A number of our institutions are facing serious resource problems. If we are to implement some of the recommendations we need financial support from the donor community and other friendly institutions,” Muluzi said. |
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