Government of Flanders Promise To Work With Malawi On Agriculture, Food Security

Mutharika and Koen Verlaeckt

Government of Flanders says will continue to support Malawi Government through its bilateral relations in areas of agriculture and food security.

Koen Verlaeckt, Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Flanders, pledged the support during his meeting with the Malawi President Professor Peter Mutharika at Kamuzu Palace in the capital city Lilongwe.

"Government of Flanders in terms of development cooperation, wants to be a reliable and predictable partner. On that we have committed ourselves for the 2014 to 2018 period for a total budget of €25 million (Euros) for bilateral cooperation with Malawi in thematic areas focusing on the Agriculture and food security which is the main challenge for this country right now" said Verlaeckt

Verlaeckt said is in Malawi for biannual consultation on State of Play on the execution of the Country Strategy Paper. He also said during consultation meetings with Malawi Government he found that projects being initiated by his government are on track. 

But he also hinted that, during encounter with Malawi president, he made emphasis on the importance of good governance and transparency which the president raised weeks ago during address at the United Nations General Assembly. 

“I had opportunity to point out to President Mutharika on the importance of good governance and accountability but this is one of the priorities which your president has raised during his address to the UN General Assembly.

"And secondly what for us is also very important is impact. The funding we are providing to Malawi for agriculture cooperation and food security, we really should make sure that the money which goes to Malawi really benefits the smallholder farmers and make sure that that happens. We need to refine a little bit some kind of activities which we are deploying for the moment" added Verlaeckt

In his remarks, President Mutharika commended Government of Flanders for its commitment in improving the livelihoods of Malawian people through implementation of projects and programmes in different sectors, including agriculture, in promoting agricultural extensions, under National SWAP Project, which is currently confined to two districts of Kasungu and Mzimba.

“It is pleasing to note that Flanders is a leading donor in agricultural extension services within the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAP) for Agriculture and Food Security. This programme is mainly concentrating on commercial agriculture, the processing of agricultural products and market development, among others.” Noted Mutharika

He informed the Flanders Secretary General that Malawi Government believes that agriculture is a key to enhancing food security, economic growth and wealth creation. But he said the sector, however, faces a number of challenges, including over dependence on rain-fed farming although the country is endowed with vast water resources like Lake Malawi and Shire River. 

“To address this challenge, and in order to also achieve self-sufficiency, my Government has commenced large scale irrigation farming through a project which we call the Green Belt Initiative. The central idea is to utilize water from the lakes and the perennial rivers to enhance the country’s food and commercial crop production throughout the year.  

Secretary General, May I take this opportunity to request the Flemish Government to consider supporting Malawi in the implementation of this important project? This project will significantly boost Malawi’s food security and economic growth.” appealed Mutharika

President Mutharika also expressed profound appreciation to the Government of Flanders for the timely humanitarian assistance which was provided to the Government of Malawi towards the devastating floods that affected 15 districts in Malawi. 

"I am also hopeful that the Flemish Government will assist us in our post disaster reconstruction and recovery phase, which is still posing challenges." He added

The bilateral relations between Government of Malawi and Government Flanders got established in 2007.

Mutharika Urges African Universities To Produce Super Qualified Scientists

Mutharika

President Professor Peter Mutharika has urged African Universities to produce highly qualified individy who can bring bright solutions to the continent that can make it one of the worlds robust economy.

President Mutharika was speaking this Wednesday at Kamuzu Palace in the capital city Lilongwe where he was officially opening a Ministerial Consultative meeting on Strengthening Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa for Regional Universities Forum (RUFORUM).

In his remarks President Mutharika underlined that Africa must improve its capacity to make use of science and technology to enhance food production and its own competitiveness in the global marketplace.

“Science, technology and innovation (STI) is underpinned by the generation and use of knowledge through research, which itself requires the availability of a ‘cadre’ of highly trained science professionals.

“It is the role of universities to train the future workforce for the continent, to undertake research and to ensure that generated knowledge makes an impact on African societies.” He said

“Education and particularly higher education is a critical mechanism for creating a cadre of professionals to undertake and oversee research that would create the knowledge base for technological innovation. Our universities must produce graduates with High level skills which are essential to deliver the vision of African leaders through the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA) and the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) to diversify African economies through creating new economic growth sectors with higher value added.” He emphasised  

However, president Mutharika noted that there are number of critical challenges Africa’s Higher Education sector is facing that includes; low quality of education, inadequate number of qualified staff at PhD level, infrastructure, outdated curriculum and  pedagogies, and inadequate funding which are further exacerbated by the high demand for access to higher education.

He therefore asked African Governments to commit to national and regional investments in Higher Education, Science and Technology, Commitment to establish an ‘African university ranking system’ that recognizes the specific need for Higher Education in Agriculture and other fields and making it easy for academia to travel across the continent.

“On its part, the Malawi Government will continue to put emphasis on higher education as set out in the National Education Sector Plan (2008-2017), and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS II). The goals and objectives relate to expanded equitable access to education; improved quality and relevance of education; and improved governance and management.” He said

Speaking before the president officially opened the meeting the Ugandan Minister of Higher Education, Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, emphasised that it Science and Technology that can help African countries to develop

“Your Excellency, it is important that we support the creation of critical mass of engineers, scientists and others in that related field. Without that support things will not work.” He said

“We are therefore inviting you, Your Excellency, to spearhead that support especially of returning the scientists that we have produced, this is because the challenge we are having now is that due to poor facilities, when we train these scientist they hardly stay in Africa” said the minister who assured President Mutharika that RUFORUM academia and Professors will support president Mutharika’s endeavours that intend to promote education in Africa.

The Consultative Ministerial Meeting on Higher Education, Science and Technology began on Tuesday 20th October and is expected to end on Wednesday 21st October, 2015 at Bingu International Conference Center in Lilongwe.

The contents from the discussions which academia and vice chancellors from African Universities will produce will feed into the next week meeting for Higher Education Ministers expected in Ethiopia. RUFORUM is a network of 55 universities in the continent

China Bringing Huge Investments, Grants To Malawi

Malawi is again to benefit from bilateral relation with Government of Peoples Republic of China following seven Investment projects to be carried out soon and number of grants worth of Millions.

President Professor Peter Mutharika disclosed during the news conference on Wednesday at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe that China is bringing investment to Malawi following his recent meeting with the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Mr. Li Keqian, on 10^thSeptember this year, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum that was held in the beautiful city of Dalian.

CSO, Govt Forum Necessary- Activists

Civil Society leaders have asked Malawi Government to create a platform where CSO’s can discuss with gverrnment on regular intervals and at length.

The call was made Tuesday afternoon during the meeting between Ministers and CSOs following the recent CSO statement which called for President Mutharika resignation.

Although the meeting had seen almost none of the CSO leaders that signed the letter turn up for the meeting, CSOs who never issued the statement made a very significant contributions which one of them is to call government to make a platform which serves to engage with CSOs regularly.

Undule Mwakasungula

“We need to create a forum where we can frequently be frequently meet government as civil society” said A renowned Activist Undule who said this will help to minimize the tension that are there

“These issues are arising because there is no forum where these issues can  be discussed on frequent basis. Let civil society be involved in implementation and not just briefed on the matterss.” He said 

Mathews Matewere Vice Chairperson For Council for Non Governmental Organisation who thanked the Government for bringing the CSOs-Government diaolgue meeting also emphasised that it should not a one day off event

“We are a family with different opinions but we are on the side of Civil Society. But as CONGOMA we will try our best to bring everybody on board and also to timely be responding to issues that matter to the people. We thank government for the dialogue meeting and this is a way to go”

Minister of Information said it has taken note of all comments and observations “Be assured that government will do whatever it takes to address some of those” he said 

Bright Kampaundi

Later, speaking to Bright Kampaundi one and the only CSO leader who signed the recent letter also echoed what other CSO's had said before the end of the meeting that the dialogue was a way to go but a platform which will help to update CSOs to know what is happening in number of areas, is supposed to be created.

Government Not Shielding Anyone From Cashgate Prosecution - Tembenu

Government has quashed ‘cashgate suspects shielding’ assertions by some  Civil Society Organisation leaders.

On Wednesday last week, some of the renowned CSO leaders issued a press statement which claims that President Peter Mutharika’s administration is giving immunity to some public officers who were involved in plunder of public coffers dubbed cashgate. The letter also called for Mutharika resignation for poor democratic and economic governance.

“We have also seen a country fast receding into an old-age political and economic malaise: A country where pursuit of corrupt cases alias cash-gate is highly skewed towards offering immunity to those in power while coming the hardest on the weak.” Reads part of the statement by the CSO’s

They asked Government to do better on dealing with cash-gate, by among others, “commencing investigations on all those linked to the plunder of public resources from 2005 to 2012.  Politically motivated pursuit of cash-gate cases will not offer justice on the matter. We need a legal process on the public resource plunder that does not side with senior public servants and the administration’s cronies.”

Tembenu

However, responding to the claims on Tuesday, at an interface meeting between Ministers and CSO’s, Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu described the statement “Devoid of substance”

“They haven’t come out clearly to indicate that government has given immunity to Mr. So, so so” said Tembenu

“On interest of Justice, we should make statement that is based on facts and evidence” urged the Justice Minister who further reminded CSO’s that public officers were arrested in connection to Cashgate where some have been already been convicted of the crime.

Also reacting to claims that government is failing to swiftly carryout an investigation and arrest culprits involved in plundering of the alleged K92 billion audit query for the period between 2005 to 2012 (now famously known K577 billion audit query), the Minister said Government in the mean time has no sufficient evidence that it can arrest individuals and companies involved in K92 billion scam because the audit query by Waterhouse Coopers is not a full audit report and contains no evidence against anybody.

However, Tembenu said once a full forensic audit is done just like was the case with Baker Tilly then government will have all the necessary evidence to begin arresting and prosecuting anybody linked to the theft.

“We cannot take someone to court without any sufficient evidence.” He said

Tembenu highlighted that at the moment Malawi Government is making headway in the prosecution of cases of Cashgate currently in court because there is a forensic Audit report by Baker Tilly which has all the evidence against suspects. He therefore said suspects are pleading guilty just because government is able to bring to court sufficient evidence against suspects.

CSOs Misleading On Reforms Legality-Govt

Government says Civil Society Organisations are misleading Malawians to claim that the reforms in the public sector are being done without legal backing and that therefore all reform recommendations made by Public Service Reform Commission must be implemented after approval by the National Assembly.

The Justice and Constitution Affairs Minister, Samuel Tembenu said the Constitution of Malawi particularly on the Public Service Act, vests in the presidency powers to run civil service and he is authorized to take measures that are befitting at that particular time and that laws allow him to institute reforms within civil service.

"It’s not true that these reforms are being done without any legal authority because the president has that power and in the event when there is need for legislation will certainly push that to parliament.” said Tembenu.

He said people should not be confused of the use of the term “Commission” because it means team that is doing the reforms “The mere use of the word Commission should not really alarm us to make us conclude that this is illegal because under the constitution the president is empowered to do that.”

“When these reforms have been proposed, they result into things; either out of that reform, recommendations they will have to add administrative action taken or legislative action taken. Where there is need for the legislation to be passed it will obviously be referred to parliament." he said

He continued “There is so much made in this paper about parliament supervising the reforms that are taking place in the government. That is not the role of parliament. Under the constitution, the parliament law is clear, that is to make laws. Nothing else. Under the constitution it is also given power to conduct oversight activities over certain acts which are activities taking place in government. Now we have to make difference between oversight and supervisory activities.”

“Parliament is not a supervisor of executive arm of government.” He added

In a letter released last week by CSOs, claims that the reforms by President Peter Mutharika administration are illegal and lacks wishes of Malawians.

“The DPP administration’s commitment to public reforms is equally questionable. The gains being made are only on paper and nothing substantive is being achieved on the ground. There is no mention, for instance, about how the Government will tackle the spectre of corruption including cashgate in these reforms. The mere fact that the establishment and functions of the Public Reform Program Commission by-passed Parliamentary approval calls the legality and legitimacy of the body itself into serious question. We, in the civil society, thus, find the program itself a mere window-dressing exercise aimed at gaining cheap political mileage.” reads the CSOs letter 

They recommended; “Government should ensure that the Public Service Reforms are periodically scrutinized by Parliament to improve the program delivery and ensure that reforms reflect the views and wishes of Malawians. Most importantly, the Public Service Reform should be depoliticized by supporting it with a necessary legal regime in order to ensure continuity. This will also allow our national Parliament to play its rightful oversight role to the reform."

Access To Information Act Ready To Parliament- Tembenu

Malawi Government has confirmed that the much anticipated legislation 'Acess to Information Act' will be tabled during this sitting of National Assembly.

Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu told members of the press and Civil Society Organisation at Bingu International Conference Centre on Tuesday that the legislation is now ready.

Tembenu made the disclosure as he was responding to recent CSO statement which is calling for President Peter Mutharika resignation over failure to address democratic and economic governance problems rocking the country.

"We have so far finished processing the Acess to Information Act, it should have been discussed yesterday (Monday) but for other things we haven't been able to do that. But within the course of the week and next week we should be able to complete the processing of this Act" said Tembenu with an indication that the Act will be ready for parliament this sitting.

"The beauty with that Act is that it is on the basis that every public official has an obligation to disclose public information." Said the Minister

"I am myself looking forward to that Act being passed one of these days" He added saying he hopes that when that is done there will be a lot of information given to the public and that will minimize incidences of misinformation to the public.