LINKAGES BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN MALAWI

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LINKAGES BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY
IN MALAWI

• MAVUTO BAMUSI
• Malawi Economic Justice Network

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Key Areas of Focus

• Relationship around poverty reduction strategies
• Relationship around public expenditure monitoring
• Relationship on national budgets and
  macroeconomic frameworks
• Media advocacy and interface with general public
• Challenges of civil society in interacting with
  parliamentarians

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Malawi

• Population is 12.3 million but 6.3 million are
  poor
• Women and children are the poorest, and the rich
  poor gap is too wide with the richest 10 of the
  population consuming over 80 of what is
  produced in Malawi.
• In 2000, Malawi launched Vision 2020, and also
  made commitment to the MDGs
• In 2002, launched Malawi PRSP, in 2004 formulated
  MEGS, and in 2006 finalized formulating MGDS.

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Malawi

• Malawi has a programme with the IMF from which
  its macroeconomic framework is derived
• Over 40 of Malawis budget is donor funded. 80
  of development budget from donors too
• 192- seat parliament which has the opposition in
  overwhelming majority

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CS-parliament links on poverty reduction
strategies

• The Malawi PRSP was formulated in 2001-2002. MPs
  not deeply involved
• MEJN therefore reproduced the MPRSP and
  disseminated to MPs through mini-workshops
• MEJN makes annual budget submissions to
  parliament that also contain poverty reduction
  priorities
• Malawi's second PRSP (the MGDS) has been
  finalized again without much interface with most
  MPs
• MEJN has plans to compliment govt. efforts and
  take the MGDS to MPs and the general public

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CS-parliament linkages on expenditure tracking
and poverty monitoring

• Monitoring focuses on Protected Priority (or
  Pro-poor) Expenditures PPEs
• In 2002, MEJN agreed to monitor outputs and
  outcomes while Budget and finance Committee
  agreed on tracking movement of funds from
  treasury to expenditure points
• Political dynamics in the period just before and
  in 2004 changed composition of committees and
  affected progress of work on monitoring
• However, CS monitors public expenditures
  independently and provide reports to MPs

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CS-parliament links on national budget debate

• CS collects budget submissions from selected
  communities
• Submissions form basis for pre-budget dialogue
  with parliamentarians
• Upon tabling of the budget bill, MEJN produces an
  analysis report with recommendations that are
  submitted to all MPs
• MEJN also produces shorter versions of national
  budgets for the constituents

8
CS-Parliament media advocacy

• MEJN organizes live radio and television
  programmes on pro-poor policy and budget issues
• Selected MPs representing parliamentary
  committees are drawn as panelists
• MPs make their positions known on matters on
  national policy
• General public also seeks direct responses from
  the MPs
• MEJN sponsors a recorded 30 minute TV programme
  called PHUNGU which features the works of MPs
  in their constituencies and other policy matters.

9
Hosting Malawi Parliamentary Coalition on
International Finance Institutions (MAPCOI)

• Early in 2006, MPs formed the coalition to
  provide checks on policies of the World Bank and
  the IMF in Malawi.
• MEJN has been providing the policy support and
  institutional home for MAPCOI
• IMF/WB conditionality and the policy of
  privatization are expected to be deeply tackled
  by MAPCOI
• MEJN hopes that political dynamics will not
  seriously affect the work of MAPCOI

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Parliament and Macroeconomic Frameworks in Malawi

• Malawis macroeconomic framework is largely IMF
  driven
• The IMF uses the Poverty Reduction and Growth
  Facility (PRGF)
• The PRGF determines levels of national revenue,
  expenditures, tax trends, salary levels, debt
  levels, inflation and many more
• The PRGF has been on and off since 2000 and a new
  programme was finally agreed in July 2005.
• The PRGF has been central to Malawis debt relief

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Limited participation of MPs in the PRGF

• The formulation of the PRGF is done with great
  influence from the IMF
• Macroeconomic frameworks used in the PRSP, and
  being used in the MGDS until 2008 are based on
  the PRGF
• Neither MPs nor the civil society are involved in
  its formulation
• Periodic reviews of the performance of the PRGF
  do not involve all MPs but selected few

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Limited Input on Conditionality by MPs in
Malawi.

• The PRGF, and other donor programmes are full of
  conditionality
• While not all conditionalities are bad, a
  majority of them are harmful to poor countries
  like Malawi
• These include reducing civil service, salary
  ceilings, restructuring of state-owned
  enterprises, and removal of subsidies
• Malawian MPs have little or no say on the
  formulation of these poverty multiplying
  conditionalities.

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Challenges in CS-Parliamentary relations

• Sometimes political party interests overshadow
  national development interests from the CS
• Policy recommendations made by CS are welcomed or
  thrown away not based on merit but on whether an
  MP is on the government side or opposition
  benches
• Dissolution of parliament prior to elections is a
  source of discontinuity for CS advocacy and
  renders capacity development efforts uncertain

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Challenges/

• Weak research capacity in Malawi parliament means
  CS has to fill in gaps and this is difficult in
  times of resource constraints
• Lack of Access To Information law makes public
  expenditures and poverty analysis difficult
• Inadequate information on loan contraction
  processes may threaten another debt burden
• Heavy handedness of the executive branch of
  government makes CS efforts difficult and likely
  to be branded as agents of the opposition.

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CONCLUSION

• Partnerships between CS and parliament have
  proved to be essential in promoting transparency
  in public resource management in Malawi. They are
  also important building-blocks for capacitating
  the constituents to demand accountability and
  ensure that government policy formulation and
  implementation delivers the interests of poverty
  reduction and leads to participatory pro-poor
  macroeconomic policies.

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