agenda for change - malawi sdnp · 2014. 7. 24. · agenda for change dear colleagues and friends:...

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LETTER FROM ATUPELE AUSTIN MULUZI p2

1. INTRODUCTION: MALAWI AT THE CROSS-ROADS p3

2. OUR AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN MALAWI p7

OUR VISION p7

OUR OBLIGATIONS p7

OUR PRIORITIES p8

3. DELIVERING INCLUSIVE GROWTH p10

3.1 THE ECONOMY p11

3.2 AGRICULTURE p12

3.3 PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT p15

3.4 TOURISM p16

3.5 EDUCATION p17

3.6 HEALTH p18

3.7 INFRASTRUCTURE, LAND AND HOUSING p20

3.8 ENERGY AND MINING p22

3.9 JOBS, YOUTH AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT p25

3.10 YOUTH AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT p26

3.11 SOCIAL PROTECTION AND DISABILITIES p28

4. DELIVERING ON GOVERNANCE p31

4.1 PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, AUDITING,

PROCUREMENT AND ACCOUNTING p32

4.2 PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS p33

4.3 DECENTRALIZATION p35

4.4 MONITORING AND RESULTS p37

4.5 ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION p37

4.6 SECURITY AND JUSTICE p39

4.7 CABINET p40

4.8 FOREIGN POLICY p40

5. CONCLUSION p42

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Dear Colleagues and Friends:

Malawi needs fundamental change across every rubric of its economy and society. This change must

happen now. Our country continues to pay a very heavy price for sluggish progress.

Malawi remains a low income developing country, ranked 170th out of 186 countries in the United

Nations Human Development Index of 2013. The national poverty rate is 50.7 percent while half of

our children under the age of five are still chronically malnourished. Mortality is high- more than one

in ten new-borns die before even reaching their fifth birthday, while the HIV and AIDS pandemic

continues to wreak havoc. Some 20 percent of Malawians aged 15 years and above have never

attended school. Although primary education is free, only 55 percent of boys and 45 percent of girls

finish primary school. Gross enrolment rate for secondary education is as low as 17 percent with

fewer girls than boys. An estimated 80 percent of secondary school leavers return to their villages

every year as they can neither find jobs nor employ themselves. 10.6 percent of population between

15-49 years live with HIV/AIDS (13 percent women and 8 percent men). All in all, Malawi is unlikely

to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) on eradication of extreme poverty and hunger,

achieving universal free primary education, ensuring gender equality & empowering women and improving

maternal health.

But these problems, although daunting, can be overcome. Through our extensive consultation processes,

including our first ever UDF National Policy Conference, Malawians have clearly iterated their two

fundamental needs. They want to participate in a healthy and open economy that offers equal

opportunities for all. They want a state and societythat is open, transparent and accountable to all of

its citizens. I believe that the proposals outlined in our Manifesto will necessitate this required change.

This Manifesto has been prepared to reflect a new way of doing business. It arises from our recognition

that Malawi has many ‘good enough’ policies, but the problem lies in leadership, implementation,

monitoring and results. Our Manifesto sets out the over-arching vision for our priority areas of focus.

These areas will need to be robustly prioritized within our national development strategy framework,

implemented and monitored through our budget. We will not set out to promise what we cannot

deliver.

The United Democratic Front stands committed to work with you so that we can deliver change for

Malawi together. United we can steer our economy back on track and grow it in an inclusive manner,

ensure that every Malawian participates in the affairs of society, is food secure, receives high quality

education, health services, as well as a decent job and income. United we can build a better Malawi

that must assume its rightful place within the region, the continent and the world.United we are a force

for Change and we can deliver sustainable and positive Change.

My Very Best Regards,

PRESIDENT

LETTER FROM AUSTIN ATUPELE MULUZI

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1 INTRODUCTION

MALAWI AT THE CROSS-ROADS

Malawi cannot afford to continue functioning at ‘business as usual’.Poverty is rampant and inequality

is on the increase, especially in female headed households, who also havelimited access to land,

cash crops and other forms of livelihoods. Access to and quality of basic services such as education

and health is dismal. Our labour market is floundering with low wages and productivity. Growth of

Malawi’s private sector continues to be hampered by the extremely limited access to finance, poor

transport systems, exorbitant energy costs and punitive tax regimes. The country has set out a

plethora of policy reforms which have been poorly implemented due to weak leadership,

inconsistencies andreversals. Mechanisms to allow Malawians to directly participate and influence

the way in which the government is run are fragile. Weak public financial management and public

sector systems have allowed for the abuse and wastage of public resourcesthat have been used to

cater for needs of the select and privileged few. Accountability institutions are not empowered to

provide the appropriate robust oversight especially of the public sector and Malawi’s leaders. The

country has profoundly suffered from weak leadership, evidenced by poor cabinet decision making

which lies at the heart of this ‘accountability deficit’.

Targets to attain macro-economic stability are far from being achieved, due to weak public financial

management and inefficient spending that is not targeted on growth and poverty reduction priorities.

The national budget continues to lack credibility. It is poorly executed with expenditures bearing

very little resemblance to actual commitments including policy and public investment priorities. Without

fiscal consolidation and expenditure control, Malawi will continue to fail to manage its bludgeoning

PEOPLE

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domestic debt.Furthermore, efforts to stabilize the economy have not been adequately balancedwith those to improve the business environment. The slow-down in foreign direct investment (FDI) andreduced competitiveness highlights a massive deterioration of the business environment. Reforms toharness the key enabling sectors for growth (transport and energy) are desolate and yet, Malawisits at the cusp of a regional infrastructure hub. Energy shortages continue to hamper public andprivate investments. There is a severe skills gap especially in vital growth areas such as mining,agriculture, tourism and the construction industry. The extremely fragile human capital base is alarmingwith poor and at times no access to high quality basic services such as health and education. Thesocial protection system is fragmented, with disparate programmes that are neither monitored norlinked to wider wealth creation objectives.

Malawi’s public financial management (PFM) systems are weakest in external scrutiny, audit, accountingand budget credibility. Public sector reforms (including decentralization) to improve monitoring andtransparency in the use of public resources and service deliveryremain ad-hoc if not non-existent.Accountability institutions (such as the Auditor General, Accountant General, Anti-Corruption Bureau,Parliament, Media and Civil Society Organizations) are neither well-resourced nor adequatelyempowered to do their jobs well. Ordinary Malawians want more space and a greater role toparticipate in Malawi’s development processes. Malawians also worry about the lack of publicsecurity and personal safety, including domestic violence. Cabinet continues to be dominated by‘transactional’ leaders, who use their power to advance their own positions as their first priority.Malawi’s leaders are never sanctioned for poor performance/irresponsible actions.

PEOPLE

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The UDF understands the need to tackle underlying root causes of dismal development in Malawi:

• The state has failed to create wealth for all Malawians and to manage the economy.

• Malawi has a political system that allows the privileged few, to consume state resources

for their own use while disregarding the voices of ordinary people.

The UDF believes that Malawihas to be disciplined about what it is that we want to do and how we

want to do it. We need a clear and prioritized ‘policy reform package’, which must be consistently

implemented and championed by Malawi’s leaders; who must also be answerable for the delivery

of these reforms even in periods of difficulty and uncertainty. The United Democratic Front (UDF)

has listened to Malawians and developed a package with two broad pillars: inclusive growth and

governance.

In delivering inclusive growth, the UDF will:

• Stabilize the economy (by managing our domestic debt; implementing sensible fiscal

and monetary policies and using our national budget to spend our public resources on

the right priorities and monitor these accordingly).

• Encourage our private sector partners to develop small, medium and large scale

enterprises in a range of growth sectors, beyond agriculture, whilst also improving our

infrastructure (including transport, energy and telecommunications) and simplifying

the ease of doing business across the formal and informal sectors.

• Provide skills to our young men and women to take up employment opportunities

across all our key growth sectors.

• Develop a social protection system that will take care of our most vulnerable (especially

in cushioning them against the impact of economic reforms), and guarantee them

equal access to high quality basic services such as education and health and wealth

creation opportunities.

In delivering governance, the UDF will:

• Master the discipline of managing its public purse (i.e. sound public financial

management, procurement, auditing and monitoring) in a manner that forces the

State to spend on the right priorities.

• Build and grow effective Malawian institutions to monitor and constrain (rather than

reward) the abuse of power and public resources.

• Ensure that ordinary Malawians feel confident that they have appropriate channels

to have their voice and needs heard.

• Establish a credible Cabinet that will set major policy priorities of government;

maketough choices within those competing priorities through the national budgetand

hold it-self accountable to the people for delivering on measurable results.

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2 OUR AGENDA FOR CHANGE IN MALAWI

Having journeyed through 50 years of independence, Malawi must generate sustainable and positive social,

economic and political change for its people.

OUR VISION

We want to change Malawi into an open society that thrives on fair distribution of resourcesand opportunities for all.

OUR VALUES

We reaffirm our commitment to economic freedom, where citizens are free to make economic

choices, generate wealth for their own happiness without undue interference from government.

We believe in a society that promotes and rewards hard work. We commit to safeguard

personal achievements and investments whilst protecting the disadvantaged from exclusion to

full participation, generation and enjoyment of individual and collective wealth in our society.

We guarantee Social Freedom, recognizing that our country is a multicultural society with

diverse view points on numerous social issues. We encourage diverse groups to maintain and

promote their cultural uniqueness and celebrate their cultural identity whilst respecting other

similar cultural cleavages. We resist any initiative to promote or favour a particular religion

as the basis for public policy formulation and strive to achieve inclusivity and unity in diversity.

We believe in Political Freedom and that all people are born free and are equal before the

law. We promote all forms of political rights, including the right to meaningful participation in

political processes at all levels to ensure that the power to govern rests with the people

through universal suffrage. No- one should be prevented from political participation or be

denied anything on the basis of class, ethnic identity, race, political affiliation, religious persuasion,

sexual orientation, gender or otherwise. We will uphold principles of transparency and

accountability.

We are a Responsive and Inclusive party. Our authority to govern is derived from the

governed. Our approach to the exercise of authority to govern is guided by the supreme

law of the land – The Malawi Constitution. We uphold constitutionalism and endeavour to

ensure that the supreme law of the land remains valuable to the governed by protecting its

integrity whilst facilitating critically important changes in response to the popular will of the

time. We remain loyal to our conviction that Malawi, as a country, belongs to all bona-fide

citizens. We reiterate that no one is excluded from social, political and economic life on the

basis of gender, sex orientation, ethnic background, race, religious persuasion, and political

affiliation or otherwise


OUR PRIORITIES

GOVERNANCE through transparency,

accountability and making the public purse

work for all Malawians.

Your UDF government will:

• Strengthen public financial

management, procurement,

auditing and procurement systems

to ensure public resources are used

for their intended use.

• Establish a responsive public service

that delivers quality public services

and one which is a disciplined,

people-centred anddecentralized.

• Establishmonitoring and

resultssystems to track where every

kwacha is going.

• Empower accountability institutions

so that they can constrain abuse of

power and are used by Malawians

to hold leaders to account.

• Strengthen forums of people’s

participationto enable them to play

a greater role in development.

• Set up a strong cabinet that

champions policy priorities of

government and holds it-self

accountable, including at the local level,

to the people.

• Providesafety and security to all

communities, especially vulnerable

groups.

• Pursue coherent foreign policy

reforms to advance and protect

Malawi’s domestic and international

interest.

INCLUSIVE GROWTH by stabilizing and growingthe economy, whilst protecting the poor andvulnerable.

Your UDF government will:

• Stabilize the economy by managing domesticdebt and implementing sensible fiscal andmonetary policies.

• Use the national budget to spend public

resources on the right priorities and monitorthese accordingly.

• Promote agriculture as a priority growth areaand employ innovative practices to increasequality yield for smallholder, medium and largescale farming for export.

• Encourage private sector partners to developsmall, medium and large scale enterprises inall growth sectors, beyond agriculture.

• Improve infrastructure (including transport,energy, water and telecommunications).

• Simplify the ease of doing business acrossthe formal and informal sectors.

• Provide skills to young men and women totake up employment opportunities across allkey growth sectors.

• Foster youth and sports development to

foster national unity across all society.

• Develop a social protection system that willtake care of our most vulnerable (especiallyin cushioning them against the impact ofeconomic reforms), and guarantee them equalaccess to high quality basic services such aseducation and health and other wealth creationopportunities.

• Work with the private sector to providequality and affordable education and health

care for all.

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3 DELIVERING INCLUSIVE GROWTH

We have identified core areas where we intend to focus our attention to achieve fast-tracked

growth and development.

The Economy: We will stabilize the economy and promote investor confidence to broaden and

deepen national savings.We will also restructure the economy to diversify and broaden sources of

stimulating economic growth, with key growth sectors such as mining, tourism, ICT assuming a significant

role. We will aggressively strengthen tourism as a key economic growth sector.

Agriculture: We will improve productivity and quality of our agricultural produce to compete on the

global market. We will reduce Malawi’s over reliance on agricultureas the primary contributor to

GDP, whilst also increasing the efficiency, reducing wastage, improving mobility and marketing of

agricultural produce. We will create an enabling environment for commercial farming.

Private Sector Development:We will nurture small, medium and large scale enterprises in a range of

growth sectors, beyond agriculture, improve our infrastructure and simplifying the ease of doing business

across the formal and informal sectors.

Tourism: We will revamp the dwindling tourism sector and make Malawi a destination of choice for

all. We will review the existing legal and policy frameworks, boost the necessary infrastructure and

ensure that the industry is liberalized.

Education: We will make primary education compulsory for all children. We will promote technical

and vocational training for the youth in order to expand the breadth and depth of our pool of

human resources.

Health: We will put in place a health service delivery system informed by our Health for All policy.

We will guarantee access to quality health services by all citizens regardless of their social or

economic background. We will put in place and implement a drug procurement policy that will

ensure availability of essential drugs in all health facilities across the country.

Infrastructure, Land, Housing, Mining and Energy: We will expand and modernize infrastructure to

match our vision to modernize the economy. Our focus will be on the road, rail, water, power,

airways and ICT infrastructure. This is consistent with our strategy to promote forward and backward

linkages within the domestic economy to enhance wealth generation and retention. We will ensure

that the country has adequate power generation capacity and explore our natural resources for

potential energy sources and expand existing infrastructure for energy supply. We will redirect

public expenditure programmes to create new urban centres. We will roll-out new urban centres to

serve as sources of economic growth and development for rural areas. We will provide good and

safe housing. We will undertake progressive land reforms and restructure the land sector. We will

make mining a major earner of foreign currency, alleviate poverty and bring wealth to all Malawians.

Jobs and Youth Empowerment: We will deliver 500,000 sustainable jobs within 5 years through

deliberate reforms to generate sustainable youth employment opportunities. We will prioritize

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capacity development, skills building and entrepreneurship programmes. We will harness youth

political participation and leadership.

Youth and Sports development: We will use sports to empower and mobilize Malawians across

society, especially the youth. We will establish islands of sports excellence whilst embedding sports

into our wider empowerment objectives. We will strengthen the enabling framework for sports

development to broaden role of government, private sector and other stakeholders.

Social Protection: We will robustly implement the National Social Protection Policy. We will develop

a comprehensive National Social Security System beyond the existing Social Cash Transfer Programme

with a coherent package of programmes tailored for rural/urban households as well as poor

farming communities to increase their income, enable them to manage shocks and build household

assets.We will further develop deliberate social protection programmes that will target the

marginalised within the society, including the elderly, orphans, widows, the disabled and other vulnerable

groups.

3.1 THE ECONOMY

The Malawi economy has been facing a downward spiral over the last decades with real GDP

growth declining to 1.9 percent in recent years. The country continues to face low growth and

productivity as well as a high debt burden. There is a consistent decline in international competitiveness,

including of the agriculture sector, dwindling returns to investment and increasing labour cost. It is

clear that Malawi’s economy is on the edge of a dangerous fiscal precipice, only decisive, prudent

and expert management can avert a looming disaster arising from the economic ineptness of the

last two administrations. Domestic borrowing remains high. The UDF administration realizes that the

success of its economic reforms will depend on commitment to financial and fiscal prudence and

discipline in managing the public purse. The highest degree of professionalism, integrity, accountability

and transparency must be exercised by everyone entrusted with managing the meagre government

resources in order to deliver prioritized and targeted essential needs of all peoples of Malawi.

To pursue robust economic reforms necessarily to bring stability and grow the Malawian economy,

the UDF will:

• Achieve a consistent GDP growth rate of 6% and above in order to achieve a meaningful

reduction of poverty.

• Prioritize prudent fiscal management by:maintaining a “balanced budget” while allowing

for small manageable fiscal deficits;establishing a cost savings and waste reduction

committee, comprising public servants, labour unions, private sector, NGOs and finance

and accounting specialists with the target to reducing the indirect costs to Government

by at least 20%;managing a tightly managed debt accumulation strategy targeted at

the reduction of both domestic and foreign components of the national debt.

• Implement a self-imposed austerity programme which will include the following measures:

minimize overseas travel by the President, Vice President and all Cabinet Minister and

senior government officials; use private sector partnerships, where appropriate, to support

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the technical work of the Ministries; rationalize non-essential leases on buildings and

rental of assets in accordance with best practice; identify and eliminate costly practices

and procedures which cause bottlenecks in the administrative processes of government

departments.

• Explore measures to economize transport services for Ministries including use of unsuitable

vehicles. Ensure officials adhere to speed limits and ensure that they are penalized

where there is abuse.

• Adopt new measures to improve the level of revenues aimed at facilitating the provision

of social and infrastructure development from indigenous sources and provide the means

for reducing the disproportionate debt stock accumulated by the outgoing regimes.

Reduce interest rates accordingly to avoid crowding out of private sector.

• Broaden the tax base by expanding the catchment area and number of tax payers and

ensuring that all individuals and businesses eligible to pay taxes become compliant and

meet their tax obligations.

• Pursue deeper integration in the SADC and COMESA Economic Unions and more effective

participation in international markets, to reposition the country to seize on emerging

trade and economic development opportunities. Pursue smart partnerships with other

regional and global interest groups/investors.

3.2 AGRICULTURE

Agriculture occupies a central place in Malawi’s economy as a major contributor to food, security

and nutrition security, exports, employment and foreign exchange earnings. Agriculture sector remains

heavily undiversified, with burley tobacco accounting for over 80% of Malawi’s agricultural exports.

The success of diversification is also dependent on improvements in marketing and transport

infrastructure. Under the UDF Administration, the Agriculture sector will play a critical role in Malawi’s

economic recovery, growth and transformation. Key areas for reform include: food security/risk

management; commercializing agriculture, agro-processing and market development; sustainable

agricultural land use and water management.

In promoting sustainable Agricultural reforms, the UDF will:

• Develop a prioritized strategy for agricultural sector transformation which will be nested

within an over-arching Malawi ‘drivers of growth’ strategy; focus on diversification (e.g.

new cash crops, horticulture flowers) of the agricultural sector; elaborate cross-sectoral

linkages, especially with other core public sector services and undertake the review of

relevant key legislation including the Tobacco Act (following adoption of the Framework

Convention on tobacco).

• Rationalize and consolidate core public sector agriculture services and support systems,

(including Extension) to lower the administration costs to Government, improve services

delivery and efficiency.


• Strengthen financial support services, physical infrastructure and trade policies

critical to enhancing the sectors’ competitiveness and contribution to the improving

the living standards of our people.

• Roll-out coherent food/nutrition programmes, including the subsidized universal

farm input programme. Ensure that, with appropriate incentives, Malawi achieves a high

level of self-reliance in the production of safe, wholesome and affordable fruits,

vegetables, root crops, eggs, poultry, fish, meat, etc. while at the same time ensuring

access through imports to other important food in households’ food basket.

• Build ‘community nkhokwe’s’ managed by local communities as social protection

initiatives.

• Foster private sector investment, especially small and medium scale enterprises

along the wider agriculture value chain. We will build mechanisms for cohesive

private sector dialogue, representation and participation in decision making aimed at

building private sector business relations and investments.

• Build a critical mass among the large number of small producers, through clustering

and cooperative approaches, to maximize benefits from incentives programs,

economies of scale and market opportunities; introduce an activist trade policy


UDF’S VISION FOR FISHERIES

Traditionally, the fisheries sector has played a central role in Malawi’s food and nutrition and food security.

More recently with the onset of climate change and other environmental influences, activities in the sector

have broadened to include marine protection and the management of marine resources.

The UDF Government will:

• Develop and implement statutory arrangements for the management and development of

the fisheries industry in Malawi;

• Develop and enforce a fisheries products regulations for quality control and preservation of

fish for localconsumption;

• Clarify roles and strengthen coordination of key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Agriculture,

Fisheries, the Ministry of Energy, fishing companies, artisanal fishermen and other conservation

groups to improve management of marine resources

• Roll-out comprehensive training and advisory programs to build human resource capacity

and increase the levels of knowledge, skills and expertise in the fisheries sub sector

• Encourage more private sector investment in the fisheries sector.

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to facilitate competitive exports of agricultural products and services, including

improving capacity to meet market requirement and to access the widening

options for trade.

• Strengthen transport and marketing infrastructure, irrigation, access to finance,

especially for SME’s.

• Retain and retool our valuable human resources, particularly our women and

youth to build the capacity, expertise and skills sets required to create a

productive, profitable, competitive and sustainable agriculture sector.

• Deploy advance tendering from commercial farmers to grow additional maize

under irrigation locally.

• Reform ADMARC to become a viable entity for the commercialisation of

agriculture. We will ensure that ADMARCfacilitates the development of the

smallholder to medium scale agricultural subsector through marketing activities

and investments in agro-industry enterprises. We will ensure thatADMARCwill

act as buyer and seller of agricultural produce in remote areas and provide

grain storage facilities in urban and rural areas.


3.3 PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

Malawi’s business environment dropped a drastic 6 places in 2012 ranking it 157th out of 185

countries in the 2013 ease of doing business. Reforms in this sector have been minimal, especially in

the last five years; worsened by poor macro-economic management. The private sector continues to

be characterised by a few big companies and many small and micro businesses. Malawi’s financial

sector remains under-developed in comparison to its peers, with very limited access to finance for

SME’s (that make up the largest number of private sector actors). Malawi’s competitiveness continues

to be affected by poor infrastructure, weak private sector support institutions, limited skilled work

forces, corruption and onerous bureaucracy and legislation. Malawi’s trade performance has worsened

over the last decade, with a growing trade deficit with the rest of the world, an average of -14%

of GDP from 2003-2011. Malawi has consistently failed to aggressively tap into the private sector

as an engine for growth in the tourism sector.

The UDF will:

• Reduce interest rates to improve affordability of finance for investments throughprudent government budget management with limited open market borrowing to avoidcrowding out of the private sector.

• Promote productive investment aimed at import reduction and increase export withspecial initiatives such as removal of import duties over raw materials.

• Establish an investment back with proceeds from sale of government business to kick-start new initiatives in private sector partnerships.

• Simplify business requirements, facilitate access to credit, improve public-private dialogueand remove unnecessary barriers to trade (especially non-tariff barriers).

• Undertake robust financial sector reforms to minimize risks associated with the marketsegment and implement key legislation central to the business environment (BusinessRegistration Act, Companies Act and Export Promotions Act and the PPP Act).

• Increase the number of Malawians enrolled in the banking system, especially women.

• Institute banking reforms (including legal framework for Bank resolution/restructuring)and robust implementation of key Acts such as the Micro-finance Act and RetirementFunds bill to regulate various informal pension funds in operation.

• Reform the export framework through: meeting standards, addressing non-tariffmeasures through trade facilitation and customs modernization, simplifying andstreamlining trade andcustoms procedures.

• Improve the economic infrastructure (reliable power and water supplies, affordabletrans port costs).

• Increase the supply of skilled workers in the labour market by bringing the skills development system closer by consulting industry groups in key growth sectors to tailorthe education system in accordance to market demand.We will focus and equip theyouth who are the largest percentage of the Malawiworkable population, by trainingthem in technical and vocational disciplines and employing them in the key growthsectors, particularly agriculture.


• Ensure and encourage the participation of the Malawi Diaspora in investment activities

back home by offering incentives and preferential treatment in contrast with other

foreign investors in certain areas including taxation, business registration requirements,

property registration and access to land.

3.4 TOURISM

Malawi needs a fundamental overhaul of its policies on domestic tourism and local investment. The policyfalls short of credit for building and expanding tourism facilities. Tourism operators are not provided theadequate support to compete on the market. Malawi continues to function without clear norms andstandards to govern the functioning of the sector. It continues to lag behind in competing with othercountries in the region due to lack of access to local advertising, limited public-private partnerships,among others. Networks and partnerships are yet to be fully exploited which are central to maximizingtours and generating greater incomes.

UDF will:

• Actively promote domestic and regional tourism.

• Provide incentive and affordable tourist packages for Malawians to travel within the country.

• Establish a special line of credit for infrastructure development by the private sector in touristicinvestment in-order to accelerate growth of the industry. Initial focus will be on alreadyexisting resorts and establishments who would be given support and advice on potentialgrowth areas.

• Jointly mount a marketing campaign with the private sector in the industry in-order to makeMalawi the Regional Tourism destination of choice.

• Invest in domestic and regional tourism, private sector investment especially in water tourism,partner with the East African Community and SADC members to pursue multi-destinationactivities, establish wild-life reserves that preserve the environment.

• Establish well managed wildlife reserves and work on a workable compensation schemefor economic losses due to wildlife conservation throughout the country.

• Host international tourism exhibitions.


3.5 EDUCATION

Although primary education is free in Malawi, only 55% of boys and 45% of girls finish primary school.Gross enrolment rate for secondary education is as low as 17% with fewer girls than boys.Approximately 5out of 10 Malawians are undereducated or overeducated for the work they do.Malawi’s scores on studentlearning tests are among the worst in Southern Africa, with no progress in reduction of drop-out rates andrepeaters. The education sector continues to face inadequate school infrastructure, financial constraints,exorbitant teacher-pupil ratio’s impact on quality and access to education. Primary school infrastructure isnot prioritized over other forms of infrastructure investment.Approximately 70% of Malawi’s learners lackbasic skills and necessities and some of these drop out before they even reach Grade 6.There has been apiece-meal approach to education sector reforms which has largely side-lined other key line Ministries.Some20 percent of Malawians aged 15 years and above have never attended school.Malawi is not likely tomeet its Millennium Development Goals of universal access to primary education and ensuring gender equality& empowering women.

The UDF will:

• Streamline and rationalise the education policy and implementation framework to re-organizethe education sector and generate a holistic and multi-sector approach to Education sectorreforms.

• Increase and protect budgetary allocations to recurrent and development spending (includingSWAp resources), equitable distribution of resources across and within districts/schools alongwith expenditure tracking and other oversight mechanisms.

• Ensure more teachers are available, better trained and in the right place, especially rural areas.Involve parents through School Governing Bodies.

• Make the decentralized education system work to ensure that every child has a text book, atrained and motivated teacher and enough time in the classroom to master school work.

• Invest in M&E systems to measure and monitor learning outcomes. Strengthen capacity of MoESTto set norms & standards and provide leadership.

• Bring a skills development system (including vocational and technical training) closer to the labourmarket in close consultation with private sector/industry groups in each of the key growth sectors;develop a workable financing model/revise the standards and curricula (with close involvementof private sector.

• Eradicate adult illiteracy by strengthening informal literacy programmes for basic literacy andnumeracy skills.

• Set and deliver on more ambitious gender parity targets, provide special education, trainingand transport facilities for disadvantaged children.

• Introduce incentivized girls education.

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3.6 HEALTH

50% of Malawi’s children under the age of five are still chronically malnourished (one of the worstin sub-Sahara Africa). More than one in ten new-borns die before reaching their fifth birthday.10.6% of population between 15-49 years live with HIV/AIDS (13% women and 8% men). Over70% have access to ART but this is not sustainable due to cost implications and the prevention ofnew HIV infections is still not addressed. Although Malawi is on track on its MDG target on access tosafe drinking water and basic sanitation, improved access to sanitation facilities remains extremelylow (8%). There are estimated 30-60 percent vacancy rates against health establishments, withemergency measures replacing longer term solutions. It is also unclear how the current fiscal crisishas impacted on these targets. Malawi does not have a needs based/cost-effective formula forresource allocation. Trends show a decline in allocations to districts, with much needed health fundsbeing diverted to the centre. Over 60% of health centres cite transport as a key challenge. Around20% of facilities have no means of calling for an ambulance in case of an emergency. Approximately50% of health facilities do not have motorised transportation and waiting times for ambulancesremain far too long. Malawi’s population has been on a drastic increase with a knock-on effect inthe decline of the per capita buying power.

The UDF will:

• Initiate a stock–take of current health sector reforms to assess if they are fit forpurpose.

• Modernize the health system and use information technology to improve health systemsincluding the buying and distribution of medicines.

• Expand access and quality of free primary health care.

• Provide high quality access and quality of the Essential Health Package (EHP) and drugs:including procurement reforms of CMS/medicine supply chain.

• Strengthen the human resources systems: ensure more staff are available, better trainedand in the right place, especially rural areas.

• Work to reduce mother-to-child transmission rate for HIV and accelerate educationprogrammes related to HIV/AIDS and general health issues.

• Vigorously pursue robust financial management: we will aim to meet the 15% AbujaCommitment (which should exclude financing for HIV/AIDS), increase allocations to recurrentspending, ensure equitable distribution of resources across and within districts along withexpenditure tracking and other accountability/oversight mechanisms.

• Put in place robust infrastructure, enhanced communications and efficient transport systemsespecially at district levels and other peripheral areas.

• Establish an Independent Body to conduct regular evaluations on quality of health servicesystems and propose interventions where necessary.

• Establish a vigorous population policy including a strong awareness programme targetedat productive groups to manage birth rates.

• Support CHAM hospitals in the delivery of health care, especially in providing financialresources for maternal and antenatal care.

• Introduce an incentivized scheme for medical personnel in rural areas.


3.7 INFRASTRUCTURE, LAND AND HOUSING

Infrastructure investments form the backbone of Malawi’s economic and social reforms. Malawi haslong suffered from an infrastructure deficit. Agriculture reforms are also dependent on adequateroad access and marketing infrastructure. Transportation is cited as one of the key obstacles toprivate sector investment. Delays at ports and border posts, unduly complex customs and regulatoryand non-tariff barriers along major routes all contribute to higher than necessary transport costs,making it harder for Malawi to integrate into the regional and global economy. Road safety is alsoa major issue that requires solutions that address institutions, attitudes and physical infrastructure.Rail transport is underutilized as a lower cost alternative to road freight due to poor condition ofrails, rail-beds and shortages of rolling stock. Weak trade supporting infrastructure is profound asMalawi ranked 73rd out of 155 countries in 2012. Malawi must improve its development prospectsby strengthening its hard and soft infrastructure in order to better exploit trade opportunities. Unitcosts for transport inside Malawi are at least twice as high as in South Africa as a result of longdistances to ports and the low backloads. Malawi’s urban water facilities face major hidden coststhat constitute a large proportion of revenues. Tariffs only cover a minor fraction of productioncosts and revenue collection is low couple with extremely high distribution losses. Housing services inMalawi have served the privileged few. Residents in informal settlement continue to have no securityin tenure. House ownership schemes have been prone to abuse. Malawi continues to lack a well-defined National Land Policy and as a result, has developed a complex land management andadministration system. Government decisions on land have been centralised with limited involvementof ordinary Malawians and communities. Land is inequitable distributed as women, children and

minority groups have been marginalized.

The UDF will:

• Unlock Malawi’s potential as the transit route for the increasing volume of minerals being

produced, including initiating PPP agreements between the Government of Malawi and

private sector especially in rail transport.

• Re-establish the Beira Rail Way link as a matter of urgency.

• Strengthen regional development corridors to improve trade facilitation, reduce cross-

borders and travel time in infrastructure back bones, especially power, IEC and transport.

• Strengthen the capacity of key transport sector institutions including Ministry of Transport

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and Public Works to effectively supervise, monitor and evaluate interventions in thesector.

• Address poor governance, bureaucratic red tape and financing constraints.

• Acquire competitive access to submarine cable to reduce the costs of internationalconnectivity. Expand the penetration of GSM services by improving affordability.

• Finalize the institutional framework for irrigation services and develop potential high-return small-scale irrigation schemes.

• Improve competitiveness of rail network and ICT in both cost and quality.

• Provide adequate funds for road maintenance, safe-guard against over-engineering ofroad network and improve accessibility to high value agricultural land.

• Identify savings to be re-allocated to other key sectors e.g. by adopting low costtechnologies e.g. placing greater emphasis on stand posts, bore holes and improvedlatrines, appropriate technologies to surface paved roads.

• Build dams, expand capacity of existing dams and improve water treatment infrastructureto bring drinkable water to all.

• Establish urban planning and housing units in all devolved local facilities.

• Make the dream of household ownership a reality for Malawians by underwriting capitalmarket development financing purposes for onwards lending to middle income groups inthe public and private sector.

• Strengthen the capacity of planning departments including licencing and approving buildingdevelopments, preparing and implementing the national land use master plan andaddressing land issues related to slum areas.

• Restructure the land sector through review of current laws and institutions.

• Grant property deeds to people who own shops, houses and land in traditional areas sothat they can use it as collateral for borrowing money from lending institutions.

• Establish the National Land Commission to carry out land administration and managementefficiently, equitable and sustainably.

• Protect the rights of women (especially widows) in issues concerning land inheritance andmatrimonial property.

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3.8 ENERGY AND MINING

Malawi’s growth potential is undermined by limited energy availability, which continues to greatly

affect returns from public and private investments. Malawi has a vast deficiency in energy, with a

peak demand of 350MW compared to an installed capacity of 287MW available. A large

segment of the population is not connected and electrification rates stood at just 8% in 2012 with

a target of 30% by 2030. Outages in Malawi are far worse than its peer countries. Almost half

of formal sector enterprises have a back-up generator which is twice the share found in other

similar African low-income countries. The percentage of business turn-over lost to power outages

is extremely high and power outages are estimated to cost the economy around 2% of GDP.

Malawi has the highest hidden costs for power utility, with inefficiencies estimated at 250% of

ESCOM’s turnover. Malawi’s mining resources are largely mapped but remain un-exploited. Mining


has yet to become an engine for growth and investment for Malawi.

The UDF will:

• Ensure that electricity generation covers local demand reliably with sufficient stand-by

power.

• Upgrade transmission and distribution systems to reduce energy losses and improve

both energy efficiency and transmission interconnections to the Southern African Power

Pool (SAPP) to diversify supply sources.

• Establish new hydro-power facilities and sites whilst repairing obsolete and allocated

sufficient resources for maintenance of existing facilities.

• Upgrade generation and transmission systems.

• Reform state owned utilities and amend regulations to improve and facilitate private

participation.

• Stay on course to meet maximum demand of 600MW by 2015 and cater for needs of

domestic customers expected to rise by 1 million in 2030.

• Restructure PPP, including investing in regional interconnectivity projects. Encourage more

private sector spending especially in transport and irrigation.

• Conduct feasibility studies for power generation and explore alternative energy sources

including clean energy.

• Reform power tariffs and address inefficiencies such as by ensuring 100% collection of

bill payments, better recovery of costs, maintenance, distribution losses and capital

budget execution.

• Promote renewable energy system.

• Revise the legal framework for mining in Malawi, including the 1981 Mines and Minerals

Act. This should include a legal framework that protects and ensures proper auditing and

contract negotiations with potential international exploration companies.

• Fast track the provision of licensing and foster public/private partnerships in mining as

well as joint ventures with international and local entrepreneurs.

• Build the technical capacity of small mining ventures to allow for growth and expansion

of the industry.


3.9 JOBS, YOUTH AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Women and Youth, aged 10 to 29 constitute a significant and growing share of Malawi’s population.The Census 2008 stated that an estimated 52% of the population is below the age of 18 years withonly 9% having secondary/tertiary education. They lack of relevant qualifications has been citedby private sector as hindrance to increasing productivity (only 14% of youth are in white collarjobs). Every year, it is estimated that around 130,000 youths enter the job market, but the formalsector is unable to create jobs at a rate sufficient to absorb these entrants. Approximately 5 out of10 Malawians are undereducated or overeducated for the work they do. Over 70% of young menand women aged between 15 and 29 are employed in the informal sector with very little opportunitiesfor skills renewal and bargaining. An estimated 80% of secondary school leavers return to theirvillages every year as they can neither find jobs nor employ themselves. This highlights acute humanresource wastage in our education and training systems. It illustrates how our current human resourcestrategies reproduce rather than eliminate poverty and economic growth in society. Female youthare the most vulnerable- they continue to be affected by poverty, migration and diseases. We donot have any documented statistics for youth and women taking up positions of leadership withintheir communities.

The UDF will:

• Create a minimum of 500,000 sustainable jobs largely tailored for the youth.

• Increase access to finance and provide enterprise development skills to the youth.

• Expand technical skills training, especially to females, so as to complement TEVET whichcurrently only absorbs 1% of applicants per year.

• Reform the tertiary education system by making training accessible from primary schooland introduce practical curriculum.

• Implement deliberate reforms to generate sustainable youth and women employmentopportunities (direct public sector employment, job search assistance, wage/employmentsubsidies, expand rural infrastructure and competitive labour markets).

• Improve investment climate and ease of doing business, especially for the youth and forwomen.

• Harness innovation, which has the potential to increase skills formation, enhance productivityand create youth employment opportunities.

• Roll out mass participation and opportunity development centres, to offer sports, culturaland recreational facilities after school hours.

• Encourage the participation of the youth in sporting activities as a means of employmentin the non-traditional employment sector. We will therefore adequately resource thefootball and netball national teams and encourage their professionalism.

• Establish a National Youth Service as a means of building skills and capacity of ouryouths which will also serve as a back up for social services such as health, education,community policing, employment and other things.

• Introduce an internship programme across all government departments to bridge thestudy-work divide and equip recent graduates with valuable professional knowledgeand skills.


• Establish Opportunity Centres which offer integrated services for youths and women, toinclude: information on private sector opportunities, access to education and trainingopportunities, assistance in writing CV’s and applying for jobs, placement in apprenticeschemes/ internship programmes and support programmes for small businesses andinformal traders.

• Formulate and bring to Parliament an Economic Empowerment Bill which, amongst otherthings is established to encourage participation and partnership of youths and women inany new direct foreign investment initiatives into Malawi.

• Promote youth cooperatives and youth enterprises through public agencies responsiblefor cooperatives and small enterprise development.

• Build institutional quality so that individuals and organizations are effective in respondingto needs of the youth and women.

• Harness youth and women political participation and leadership: through political debatesin both formal and informal institutions, especially within their communities, nurture pro-active youth and women organizations and give them space to influence policy andshape dialogue.

• Invest and provide space for state and non-state actors to groom leaders: leadershipcourses/mentoring for transformational (and not transactional) leaders.

• Establish a working bursary system for tertiary education.

3.10 YOUTH AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT

The UDF understands the role of sport in Malawi’s democracy, especially in shaping and influencing

our identity as a nation as well as the youth. Sports can also empower, uplift and bridge

divisions within our society, provide healthy living and excellence for those with talent. Sport will

be our priority social development and mobilization tool-to galvanize Malawians into a proud

and unified nation.

UDF will:

• Establish youth centres, to provide sports, especially to girls including victims ofdomestic violence, empower young people with one stop shop on a range of issues-literary, business development skills and recreational facilities.

• Develop the sports industry through formulating a sports industry policy anddeveloping the sports market, set out general norms and standards and bolstersports infrastructure also as part of revenue generation.

• Establish a legal framework to govern the sports market.

• Develop a coherent approach to seeking private sector financing for the sportssector and encourage more robust private sector engagement in the sports market.

• Make Malawi qualify to the World Cup in 2022 by ensuring that the Flames participateand qualify to the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

• Support competitive athletes so that they can become sports ambassadors, develop


a pipeline of sporting excellence and promote participation in recreational sportand unite the nation.

• Conduct audits of sports facilities and use information from the audits to developplans to assist under-resourced areas and develop sport infrastructure.

• Promote school and student sport as a mechanism to develop healthy lifestyles amongyouth, discourage anti-social behaviours and develop a pipeline of sporting talent fornational teams.

• Invest in sporting facilities, especially for people with disabilities.

• Develop an effective and integrated sports academy system that will develop a pipelineof sporting excellence through national corps of talent scouts, coordinated sports scienceand medical support, assist competitive athletes in entering professional sport careers,coordinated support to sport coaches.

• Ensure participation of grass roots communities in sport rather than artificially manipulatingcomposition of elite sporting teams.

• Improve the governance of sporting bodies by supporting sporting federations throughtraining in financial management, corporate governance, and engagement with Parliament.

• Build a Football Academy in the Central Region which will be a school of excellence fortalented young boys and girls.

• Identify and secure sponsorship for the most successful and popular football clubs.

• Build strong grass-root football development programs in all the districts to identify andgroom talented football players.


3.11 SOCIAL PROTECTION DISABILITIES

Malawi has high levels of poverty concentrated in rural areas—its human development index isat 0.400 far below the SSA average of 0.463.Poverty levels are at 50.7%, along with highincome inequality along with a Gini-Coefficient of 41.5—reflects extremely high levels of inequalityand marginalization.An estimated 50% of the population is classified as vulnerable and yetGovernment spending on social investments in FY 12/13 was only at 5% and mainly from donors.Malawi’s social protection interventions, including the Social Cash Transfer programme, are notcoordinated are marred by numerous operational anomalies related to beneficiary identification,sustainability and significance. Most interventions,except for public works programmes, do nothave a country-wide coverage and hence are not amenable to scaling up in times of crisis. Theyalso have different targeting mechanisms, making it easy to double-target a single needyhousehold. Although the Social Support Policy was adopted in 2012, implementation has beenweak and patchy and Malawians continue to face the hard impact of the stabilization reforms inlight of the current economic crisis. Women’s participation is still weak. Sadly, Malawi will notdeliver on all of its female related MDG’s. Efforts to address gender inequality are constrainedby poor enforcement and monitoring of gender strategies, cultural bias, lack of political will,inadequate resource allocation to deliver on gender targets.

The UDF will:

• Adopt and legislate a nationally agreed working definition of poverty as “the inabilityto meet minimum basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, livelihood and employment,education, primary and reproductive health care, basic utilities, energy and power”;

• Review the National Vulnerability Assessment and Poverty Mapping Framework toidentify and map those persons and communities most in need and develop a databasethat will guide, in a coordinated way to inform implementation of social protectionprogrammes.

• Ensure that parents or caregivers of every child born into poverty are able toprovide the child with the food, health care and education they need to grow.

• Set out a clear and coherent strategy for operationalizing, implementing and monitoringthe National Social Protection Policy through a package of well linked permanent,predictable and scalable programmes.Focus will include: cost effective social welfareand care to marginalized groups (including women, vulnerable children and the disabled)and support to employment creation/labour market programmes.

• Ensure a pool of well-trained social service professionals who will ensureeffectivedelivery systems for social support-including community based targeting(especially of marginalized groups including women), management information systems,and unifiedregistry of beneficiaries, enhanced monitoring and evaluation systems.

• Increase number of women in the financial sector, especially in rural areas andprovide deliberate focus on skills building of female entrepreneurs and leaders.

• Set out a new vision and strategy for nutrition and community based developmentprogrammes to prevent and control nutrition disorders, particularly among vulnerablegroups. Increase access to nutrition information and services and prevent growthfaltering in early childhood.

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• Support active labour market and employment programmes.

• Develop clear linkages between impact of stabilization programmes with initiatives tocushion the most vulnerable, especially the legacy of inflationary pressures and economyrebalancing.

• Targeted support to rural and urban households (labour intensive public worksprogrammes) and poor farming communities (rural livelihoods through irrigation) toincrease incomes, enable them to manage shocks better and build household assets.

• Strengthen community oversight to monitor potential abuse of social safety nets andintervene where this is the case.

• Support people with disabilities through increased access to education and jobopportunities, to ensure that they can access all support required and promote theireconomic and social inclusion.

• Establish a Village/Community Nkhokwe’s managed by communities themselves toovercome food shortages.

• Reform the pension system, guided by a review of public and private sector systems todetermine strengths, weakness and specific strategies to ensure future protection oflivelihoods of pensioners and their dependents.

• Enact legislation that provides for women and child- headed households (with a higherincidence and severity of poverty) assurance of transfer of ownership of land, property,livestock, and all other movable/immovable assets in their names, rather than permittingtheir titles to pass on to the next male heir in the extended family.

• Enhance access to insurance against risks, guided by a comprehensive review of theNational Crop Insurance Scheme to assess the contribution cap, the fund managementand the level of equity among contributors;

• Re-commit to implementation of the National Gender Policy and the SADC Protocol onGender and Development which contemplates special social protection measures toimprove and promote the livelihoods of women at all levels of society;

• Provide opportunities for people with disabilities to have greater access to education,

housing, transport, public facilities, rehabilitation and social services.

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We have identified core areas where will focus our attention to strengthen accountable,

transparent and responsive governance across all strata of society:

Public financial management, procurement, auditing and accounting: We will reform and

strengthen systems that secure and guarantee the integrity of the public purse so that it

benefits all Malawians. We will ensure these systems limit the scope for abuse of state resources

for corrupt practices. We will increase the efficiency and transparency of revenue collection.

Public Sector reforms: We will transform the public service into a world-class institution by

2020, extending to local government by 2025.We will build the capacity of the public sector

to implement informed policy and regulate service delivery. We will make the public sector

accountable to Malawians.

Decentralization: We will devolve service delivery across the country. We will focus on step

change transformational reforms that will build systems for devolution whilst also strengthening

the voice of ordinary communities in service delivery.

Monitoring and Results: We will build a results culture across the public service and Malawian

society. We will establish a government-wide monitoring and evaluation framework, championed

by Cabinet to assist the public sector to evaluate its performance and report to Malawians on

progress on a routine basis.

Accountability institutions and public participation: We will strengthen accountability bodies

(both formal and informal) to provide appropriate oversight over all branches of government.

We will ensure that leaders/public servants are responsive and answerable to the demands

raised by these accountability institutions. We will provide opportunities for ordinary Malawians,

especially the youth, community/voluntary associations, to engage with public office holders,

whilst also encouraging freedom of association and expression.

Safety and Security: We will reform laws that discriminate against ordinary Malawians, poor

people and vulnerable groups and ensure that all Malawians are aware of their legal rights.

We will set up modern policing approaches and help the police to be of service to communities.

We will strengthen partnerships between law enforcement agencies, civil society and local

government.

Cabinet: We will strengthen cabinet as a collective to set the major policy priorities of government,

make choices within competing priorities and be held accountable to these choices. We will

establish a system for routinely monitoring and reporting on cabinet decisions.

Foreign Policy: We will develop a long term and coherent foreign policy agenda that is

grounded in our domestic, regional and international interests. We will build a credible cadre

of diplomats to implement this agenda. We will review the efficiency and effectiveness of

diplomatic missions to ensure that they deliver value for money.

4 DELIVERING ON GOVERNANCE

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4.1 PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, AUDITING,

PROCUREMENT AND ACCOUNTING

Weak financial management, auditing, procurement and accounting systems underpin Malawi’s failure

to use its public purse for the best interest of all Malawians. The country continues to suffer from

weak fiscal discipline, inappropriate allocation of resources to sub-optimal priorities and resultant

dismal service delivery. Government leadership in strengthening these systems has been weak with

multiple reforms that have been largely driven by external partners. The implementation of robust

legislation already in place (the Public Procurement Act and PFM Act and Public Audit Act) has been

ad-hoc and disappointingly patchy. The public sector faces massive capacity constraints in financial

management, auditing, procurement and auditing with vacancy rates as high as 44% across these

specialized skill areas. Monitoring the efficiency and effectiveness of these systems has been weak

and as a result they have been prone to grand abuse and corruption. The discovery of massive

embezzlement of public resources (the cash gate scandal) illustrates the collapse of these very

important and yet fragile systems.

UDF will:

• Initiate a stock take of public financial management, procurement, accounting and audit

systems and reforms to date, to ascertain key pressure points and prioritize areas for

reform.

• Ensure that 100% of contracts are awarded on the basis of open and fair competition.

• Ensure that 95% of vacant posts are filled in with credible professionals.

• Raise public awareness and establish systems to ensure transparency in public procurement.

Establish an e-procurement system, website to display tenders, tender plans and awards.

• Review processes for large procurements.

• Establish a single-point centre of excellence for grooming and building capacity of

financial management, procurement, accounting and auditing professionals to cater across

all institutions and specialized sector training e.g. in health and education.

• Develop asset registers in all Ministries and ensure that a monitoring system is established.

• Develop and implement procedures for financial management, procurement, accounting

and audit across every line ministry and local assembly.

• Undertake 100% high quality performance audits and ensure coverage of annual financial

audits, which will be shared with the Malawian public.

• Enact a Budget Law to define duties and responsibilities of various stakeholders in the

budget process and provide clear enforcement measures to ensure discipline during

budget formulation and implementation.

• Review and strengthen the roles of key stakeholders in financial management and accounting

systems: Accountant General, Ministry of Finance, Line Ministries, National Audit Office

and Internal Audit Department.

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• Review and strengthen the role of the Financial Intelligence Unit and empower it to

investigate cases, monitor suspicious transactions and maintain an overview of commercial

bank electronic payment system for international payments.

• Establish a system to monitor large contracts and establish islands of excellence especially

in top spending Ministries. Reinforce M&E in procurement, complaint handling systems for

all procurement entities, contract management, monitoring by CSO’s, community

procurement.

• Review and strengthen the role of the PERMU (Public Enterprise Reform and Monitoring

Unit) to enforce financial accountability, transparency and corporate governance on

parastatals. Develop a strategy on the role of State Owned Enterprises in supporting

Malawi’s development.

4.2 PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS

Malawi’s weak public sector continues to function with extremely stretched human resource capacity.

In the absence of robust leadership, a coherent policy and strategy for the sector, reform efforts

have been fragmented and have yielded dismal results. The sector is fraught with high vacancy

rates, serious skills gaps, recruitment bottlenecks, pay and allowance issues and poor performance

management. Good people are not well managed. This has been exacerbated by poor leadership

at the centre. There is also an unhealthy gap between civil servants and political leaders. Importantly,

there have been no concrete attempts to make the public sector more accountable to ordinary

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Malawians. Malawi’s leaders have deemed public sector reforms as politically costly given the

focus on long term change that such reforms demand. As a result, the public sector has not served

as the vehicle to provide services to ordinary Malawians; rather, it has become a mechanism for

distributing public jobs and targeted benefits to the privileged few.

UDF will:

• Set out a coherent policy and strategic approach for whole of government publicsector reform and administration, based on a rigorous evaluation of previous initiatives,building on fresh thinking from an esteemed panel of Malawian experts.

• Strengthen the legal framework governing the efficiency and effectiveness of the publicservice by consolidating, establishing basic laws, rules and processes for public sectormanagement.

• Develop a public sector leadership cadre, equipped with leadership and managementskills, organizational representation, strategic policy/management and results.

• Institute policies and practices to protect staff from vulnerability to infection and supportstaff living with HIV/AIDS and its associated impacts.

• Review and strengthen the human resource planning capacity, including reform of HRMIS.Modernize human resource management policies and practices across all levels ofgovernment.

• Institute Service Delivery Pacts, which will constitute the basis of accountability relationshipsbetween the public service and ordinary Malawians, and commit the state to become amodel employer and an employer of choice for all those committed to serving people.

• Rationalise government departments to eliminate duplicity of functions and otheroperational challenges related to multiple uncoordinated government ministries, agenciesand departments.

• Review and harmonise conditions of service for the entire public service to ensure thatremuneration is commensurate with qualifications and performance.

• Institute a performance-based recognition and award system in the public service thatwill ensure and enforce sanctions on individual non-performance and individualaccountability for misconduct.

• Promote education and training of all public servants. We will establish a skills developmentinitiative to turn every public sector workplace into a training space and developconscientious public servants.

• Place explicit focus on implementation and change of institutional and managerialarrangements and behaviour of public servants. We want to change both formal institutionsand behaviours towards delivering results.

• Establish a merit-based promotion system that destroys elements of patronage that

have become far entrenched in the system.

• Partner with the private sector, to adopt strategies/practices to improve efficiency and

effectiveness of the sector.

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• Establish quality, motivation, recruitment and promotion systems and performance

management.

• Improve service delivery through a public service that is of the right size and skills mix,

with the requisite motivation, professional ethos, client focus and accountability.

• Increase the number of women in middle and senior levels. Institute leadership development

programmes, including for women with understanding of political context and are

collaborative.

• Review pay policy to give adequate compensation for skills, responsibilities and experience.

Where required, provide salary supplementation to encourage servants to work in

districts.

• Introduce client charters with formal feed-back methods between communities and public

servants.

• Establish a “Civil Service Reserve Pool” for retired civil servants as a reservoir of

experience that the Government may call upon when required. Members of the pool will

be required to attend refresher courses organized by MIM to keep them abreast.

• Reform the Civil Service Commission.

• Use life-style audits to make politicians and public officials able to account for sources

of their wealth.

• Intensify the fight against corruption in both the public and private sector.

4.3 DECENTRALIZATION

Malawi has adopted an ad hoc system for decentralization. Efforts to decentralize have been

transactional rather than transformational. Local accountability structures remain weak. Political

leaders have influenced the shaping of the process negatively, demonstrating that it has been to

further interests of ruling elite rather than ordinary people. Although the law provides that 5% of

the net national revenue should be transferred to local assemblies, most are fraught with chronic

financial problems including: narrow resource base for locally generated revenue, lengthy budgetary

processes, legislative and financial controls, poor effective accounting systems and inability to

access loans. Ordinary Malawians have remained mere spectators of decentralization, as there

have been no systematic means to engage them in this process.

UDF will:

• Re-orient the focus of decentralization reforms to include not just technocratic reforms

but also accountability and empowerment of Malawians.

• Reform the system of local governance to empower local communities and ensure that

local elections are held routinely and on time. This will enable the transfer of power to

communities with strong democratic and accountable local level governance structures.

We recognize that ordinary Malawians ambitions are thwarted by authoritarian micro-

management, corruption and centralization of our central government structures.

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• Establish a framework for even and equitable development of all the regions of the

country.

• Amend the Local Government Act (1998) to establish 4 regional administrative offices

under the leadership of Regional Administrators.

• Decentralize the implementation of grass-root development programmes such as MASAF

and OVOP to Regional Administrators.

• Focus on getting the basics right: staffing and capacity of assemblies to ensure that the

right staff are recruited to do their job, shared sector devolution strategy, rationalize

sub-district participatory structures, develop community capacities and devolve

responsibilities.

• Strengthen open and competitive local level procurement processes to foster PPP’s.

Support creation of PPP environment. Develop a framework of engagement between

local assemblies and private sector as partners in service delivery.

• Strengthen the inter-governmental fiscal transfer mechanism, including the role of the

National Local Government Finance Committee in overseeing local government finances

and resolve chronic problems.

• Strengthen framework for property tax collection including improving information bases

and collection capabilities. Strengthen processes for assessment (every five years) as

most properties are still under-taxed. We will de-risk debt collection.

• Strengthen local government supervision capabilities (especially of CBO’s), to improve

their effectiveness.

• Root out corruption across local assemblies by tackling poor financial management, low

quality infrastructure and loss of citizen trust. Punish politicians who negatively influence

procurement committees to award tenders to unsuitable candidates.

• Pursue political decentralization-encourage empowerment of councils and training of

elected officials to deliver on their mandates effectively.

• Strengthen role of central government in devolution, through developing legal instruments,

streamlining growth in expansion, set out minimum service standards, oversight and spear-

head public service reforms that should span out at the centre.

• Institute simple bidding documents for local governments and strengthen local procurement

systems.

• Establish a Fund for additional support to capacity building of local government in delivery

of basic services.

• Build functional and modern market places for vendors in all the three regions (Mzuzu,

Blantyre and Lilongwe).

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4.4 MONITORING AND RESULTS

Malawi’s weak track record in delivery has been partly due to its inability to infuse a culture of

monitoring and results across all strata of society. The country has disparate monitoring and results

systems, most of which are focused on inputs and are not tailored to demonstrate progress in a

clear manner. A culture of monitoring and results will help Malawi’s leadership to make informed

policy priorities, finance them and successfully track programmes designed to implement these

priorities, whilst also enabling Malawians to see whether the service has been delivered and its

ultimate impact on communities and society. Monitoring and results provides evidence for whether

Malawi’s public purse has been allocated for the right priorities. The UDF is concerned with increasing

effectiveness of limited resources available for Malawi’s development and hence it sees monitoring

and results as central to efficiency and effectiveness of the public purse.

The UDF will:

• Develop a government-wide monitoring and results strategy (championed by the President

and Cabinet).

• Encourage demand for information by civil servants across government, along with

empowering the National Statistical Office to generate better statistics that are available

to all strata of society and encourage linkages with the private sector in this realm.

• Strengthen district and community level monitoring frameworks and shift focus from inputs

to outputs and outcomes.

• Publish monitoring and results reports that show progress across each and every strata

of government and develop mechanisms to empower citizens to hold government to

account for areas where results are poor.

• Strengthen capacity of Ministry of Information and Civic Education to disseminate

information on results through government mediums.

4.5 ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Malawi’s accountability institutions are weak. Most Malawians feel powerless. They lack political

influence, even though they are in majority. Malawi’s political elites feel responsible to their own

groups rather than to society as a whole and they govern in the interests of their own group.

Ordinary Malawians excluded from power find it difficult to seek redress. Key institutions meant to

bring checks on the executive-parliament, the courts, media, political parties, civil society etc. are

not empowered to do their job, do not coordinate and are at times undermined by corruption and

violence. Malawi ranked 91out of a 177 countries under the corruption and transparency index in

2013. Malawi ranks 146 out of 179 countries on the Press Freedom Index.

UDF will:

• Set up mechanisms and structures that provide ordinary Malawians voice, answerability

(right to receive information and explanation for actions) and enforceability (impose

sanctions if information not satisfactory).

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• Develop a road-map to Constitutional Review and ensure that process is impartial and

completed within agreed timelines.

• Nurture a free and effective media to transmit messages and information to and from

ordinary Malawians with Government and to hold government account. This includes

providing a regulatory environment for media that is free of political control.

• Recognize the role of active civil society and encourage its focus on key issues of

concern to Malawians including environment, personal security, women’s rights, and youth

empowerment.

• Institute quarterly dialogue forums between Government and civil society to discuss

issues of national importance.

• Reform Malawi’s electoral processes to allow all groups to participate effectively, reduce

vote buying and incentives to be corrupt to finance election campaigns. Reform the

electoral commission to make it into an independent body that is accountable to all

Malawians.

• Strengthen the representation of women, especially in political leadership positions across

key accountability institutions.

• Strengthen the role and autonomy of Parliament, in approving legislation, controlling the

budget process and influencing policy making. By encouraging greater participation,

requiring ministers to answer to questions honestly and efficiently and ensure that its

decisions are implemented.

• Enhance transparency of information on resource flows to citizens on budgetary transfers

to key service delivery units, outline obligations and commitments of government and

what citizens should expect and actual performance of front-line service delivery units.

• Encourage CSO’s to undertake independent budget analysis, make the budget more

transparent, and deploy citizen’s charters.

• Roll out citizen report and community score cards to generate Malawians experience

with public services and publicise these to make sure any issues are addressed.

• Strengthen mass media development-ability to ask the right questions. Improve credibility

of media (independence from private and political interests). Improve interaction with

civil society to generate information that reveals inefficiencies.

• Strengthen mandates and increase the budgets for Anti-Corruption Bureau, Auditor

General, Accountant Generals Offices, Parliament.

• Establish an independent, effective and highly specialised, prosecution driven anti-corruption

unit to ensure that corrupt persons in both the public and private sector are caught and

held to account.

• Prohibit public servants and public representatives from doing business with the state.

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4.6 SECURITY AND JUSTICE

Malawi’s security and justice sector is fraught with a myriad of challenges which include: illegal

immigration, drug and human trafficking and illegal cross border trade, slow and compromised

judicial processes, costly/delayed and denied justice, police brutality alongside small arms proliferation

and armed crime, a disempowered citizenry and inequitable access to security services. There is

severe over-crowding in prisons. The justice system suffers from chronic lack of state-funded

representation. A majority of Malawians cannot afford a private lawyer with approximately 22

legal aid lawyers in the country. Access to information on basic legal rights is also patchy.

UDF will:

• Strengthen the criminal justice system, capacity of police, prosecutors, legal aid and

courts.

• Establish a total of 100,000 community safety committees and forums across the country,

along with financial and material support to community policing forums and neighbourhood

watches.

• Tackle incidents of domestic violence and abuse against women and children and undertake

a multi-disciplinary approach to tackling violence against women and children.

• Strengthen border controls to improve security, manage immigration effectively and

promote regional cooperation on border security.

• Strengthen the Malawi Police Force: recruit and train an efficient police service ensure

that they are all equipped with vehicles at every police station and other equipment to

perform their duties, remove service members who abuse their power/participate in

corruption, strengthen cooperation between communities and police in preventing crime.

• Establish specialized crime units for Narcotics, Gangs, Sexual Offences and Rural Safety.

• Regularly monitor police stations compliance with Domestic Violence Act and establish a

register/system for monitoring domestic violence.

• Make all courts free from political interference and properly resourced to handle all

cases through the system.

• Develop an integrated system for crime statistics which highlights the number of reported

crimes against arrests made, cases referred to the Director of Public Prosecution, number

of prosecutions carried out and number of convictions sourced.

• Strengthen legal aid services, expand use of community courts and improve the efficiency

of the court system.

• Reduce prison over-crowding by building additional facilities, improving management of

remand prisoners and making better use of alternative sentences.

• Establish a strong independent Inspectorate of Correction Services to collaborate with

civil society organizations to monitor conditions in prisons, prevent prisoner abuse, combat

corruption in prisons and improve prospects for successful rehabilitation.

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• Strengthen the national defence force to keep Malawi safe. Increase number of troops

protecting our borders and clear guidelines in circumstances where the defence force

maybe deployed to assist in public violence.

• Closely monitor defence procurement as transparently as possible and ensure it is not

prone to corruption.

• Establish a regional stand-by brigade and greater intelligence collaboration through

early regional warning centres.

4.7 CABINET

Malawi’s cabinet and its underpinnings have been shrouded in a culture of secrecy. Cabinet provides

the single most important structure for ensuring that Malawi’s leaders deliver for what they set out

to do. Malawi’s leadership, through its Cabinet, has to be at the center of infusing this culture across

state and society. A credible Cabinet must: a) set major policy priorities of government and b)

make choices within those competing priorities through its national budget; c) hold it-self accountable

to the people for delivering on measurable results.

UDF will:

• Maintain a lean cabinet, which is established to deliver according to the functions of

Government.

• Empower cabinet to collectively lead providing oversight of the development and

implementation of the annual budget.

• Build a culture of collective decision making and strengthen the dialogue between Ministers.

• Make cabinet accountable to people-by publishing cabinet decisions-communicating policy

decisions.

• Prepare cabinet delivery reports reviewed-accessible to general public on progress

made, along with an effective communication strategy for the Malawian public.

• Streamline procedures for planning, execution and follow up on Cabinet meetings, including

the preparation of an up to date and robust Cabinet Manual.

4.8 FOREIGN POLICY

Malawi’s approach to foreign policy has been ambiguous, fragmented, not driven by a coherent

strategy of what serves Malawi’s interests and what the country contributes on the global stage.

Government officials have been reactionary rather than pro-active; with vague official stated

policy goals, whose implementation has been led by the executive rather than well trained

professionals. Our foreign policy has been highly personalized based on whims those who are in

power.

UDF will:

• Develop a long term objective and coherent foreign policy for Malawi that is grounded in

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economic imperatives serves our domestic agenda, which are on inclusive growth and

governance, whilst also increasing our international economic competitiveness.

• Provide technical and analytical resources to take advantage of opportunities in

international trading system, bilateral relations and woo foreign investors.

• Use our positioning at multi-lateral forums like United Nations, SADC, AU and other

strategic forums to contribute to a safer world and further our national objectives.

• Contribute to the African agenda for industrialization and regional integration for

sustainable and inclusive development. We will support the AU to ensure African solutions

for African problems.

• Contribute to peace keeping and humanitarian operations in various African countries.

• Groom a competent cadre of foreign policy technocrats. Set up an academic centre

that will also support the development of the foreign policy. Well trained officials to

implement policy.

• Re-orient missions to ensure they deliver value for money and attract foreign investment.

• Promote cordial and friendly relations with all our neighbours in the spirit of good

neighbourliness and peaceful coexistence.

• Pursue sensible policies that will promote cooperation with our neighbours and enhance

peace, security and development while protecting and maintaining territorial integrity

and protecting lives and property of the Malawian people.

• Pursue constructive engagement and diplomacy in instances of conflict with state and

non-state actors who share our understanding on the need to promote peace and

security.

• Strengthen existing bilateral relations and forge new ones that offer opportunity to

promote faster economic growth for Malawi

• Pursue deeper integration in regional bodies including SADC and COMESA and engage

in more effective participation in international markets in order to reposition the country

to seize on emerging trade and economic development opportunities

• Promote openness in international trade practices and support the establishment of an

open economic order that advocates for fair terms of trade between developing and

developed nations.

• Continue to be involved in multi-lateral issues, particulary those that have a strong bearing

on the interests of Malawi. We will, therefore continue to support the efforts of those

multilateral organisations to which Malawi is a member, including the UN the AU, the

WTO, World Bank and IMF, the Commonwealth and South-South cooperation.

• Boost trade and business relations both regionally and globally and explore partnerships

in emerging economies in Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as elsewhere.

• Uphold the fundamental human rights with regard to the values of the Malawian nation

and not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion etc.

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The UDF stands ready to deliver change for Malawi. This Manifesto sets out our vision and intendedactions to deliver this change.

It is underpinned by a sense of clarity that we as Malawiansmust own and drive our path and destinybecause:

· We have no option but to respond to domestic political imperatives which beg us to reallylisten to what Malawians want and need.

· Politicians have no choice but to shift their focus from short term imperatives which are largelydriven by the need to secure another term in office to a long term approach which is aboutleaving behind a legacy of having delivered public goods which are at the heart of positivechange for Malawi.

· Collective action is the only basis for resolving most of our problems, and that it is possible toreach out across the broad political spectrum to deliver on these objectives.

· Ownership is part of our efforts to build Malawi as a nation with an identity and proudcitizens.

5 CONCLUSION

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