Some Development Issues and Debates

A debate on organizational cornerstones:  A case of MCP's 4 cornerstones Guest writer ***Disclaimer: The views are those of the author as an expert in International Development and do not represent any views of any party or establishment. Introduction There is a tendency to misdiagnose problems when disagreements appear to chance in an establishment and this misdiagnosis becomes the very factor that perpetuates the disagreements.   The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Constitution implies at Article 2 that the organization’s vision is to realize a successful Malawi based on non-racialism, equality, human dignity, and freedom, inclusively and has identified other guiding values (identified as cornerstones) namely, Unity Loyalty, Obedience and Discipline ,   that are necessary for the vision to be achieved. In the wake of these isolated incidents of disagreements in respect of the running of the party, few commentators are debating whether it may be the fu...

Malawi's underdevelopment is a result of not poor policy formulation per se, but poor implementation. This is not to say Malawi has super policies, no..in fact some are so misleading and contradictory that one can only conclude that they are a product of unilateral sectoral efforts and emerged without exploiting the power of multi-stakeholderism... But few if any countries have everything well-crafted... What we need to do is to implement policies ...In that regard, we need to know that while the private sector, the development partners, CSO inter alia are integral in the implementation process, the dominus stakeholder in many respects is the State. The state must at all times create the needed enabling environment for development by taking various actions which include truthful implementation. Inevitably, this means the executive cannot escape mention in this discourse...ultimately it must show leadership in policy reform, implementation and in ensuring that the...

In respect of the land bill, I am not taking any sides in this debate because I need further information. However I ought to say, in terms of the law and practice, the government cannot and should not do everything alone and I agree. (The government needs our support as citizens). In the present case, all that is required is that in promulgation of important laws as this, proper consultations and popularization of the law and its potential implications, among those who would be heavily affected by it, be held in earnest and honest manner. In a constitutional democracy as ours, participatory democracy in terms of which the public should be encouraged to participate in decision making, is important. The citizens should be encouraged to participate directly where feasible in issues of governance including the law making process. this can be done through the usual government organized public consultations and requests for written submissions on issues that are up for enactment or chan...

Greenwell Matchaya* My recent posts in this paper and other fora have discussed the need for legal reforms as a means to achieving greater societal good, enhancing the adjudication of socio-economic rights and ensuring that Malawians are truly governed justly and convicts are sentenced in accordance with guidelines that do not defy logic. On the economic front, I have written, firstly, on the need and ways for enhancing national savings as a means to greater economic progress, drawing parallels with our neighbours in the Southern African Development Community-SADC, and secondly, on the need for radical structural change in the agricultural sector as another important means towards pro-poor economic development. Today, I would like to discuss the issue of returns to our labour in Malawi as a way of showing how much we need to improve to be at par with the other SADC countries and beyond. Although this note does not discuss policy options in any detail, I hope that it can create f...

In search for a viable economic recovery plan for Malawi By Greenwell Matchaya, PhD By now it can be said without fear of contradiction that the Malawi economy is in doldrums and that while efforts may be underway in various forms to salvage it from complete collapse, planners are either far from a solution, or are unsure whether it will be possible to come to one. So sad is this reality because as we have argued elsewhere, Malawi so happens now to be the least developed country in the SADC and if the status quo remains so going forward, or if it deteriorates further, Malawi could actually now truly emerge the poorest country not only in the SADC but in the world. The issue is not that relative poverty matters more, but that such poor economic stance relative to others is indicative of major problems, including deprivation, marginalization, and poverty at the grassroots level.  The purpose of this note is to highlight some of the salient issues we face as a nation and ...

Greenwell Matchaya, PhD As a point of departure, it is important to state in advance that this article is not meant to support or renounce any forms of state organizational structures as supported by various sections of our society in Malawi. Rather, the main purpose of this article is to take forward the debate about state organization by discussing how different parts of the government may share power in a manner that can propel development aspirations of a nation. Inevitably, it may touch on some issues related to the elements of law to elaborate on a number of issues. Again, as a consequence of such a proposal of course, I may be implicitly calling for a constitutional reform of a material nature to provide the necessary law that would anchor such a new state structure. I must also put a disclaimer here as follows: The ideas written below should be taken simply as ideas and no one is forced to embrace or shun them. They should also not be interpreted as a drive towards a...

by  Greenwell Matchaya  One reason why we consider (or expected) 1994 as decisive in the economic, legal and social-economic development of the country is because it was supposed to represent a structural break from the past, which was perceived to be associated with a one party rule with its demerits, to political pluralism with possibilities for various branches of government providing checks- and balances to each other, inter alia. It appears however that 21 years later, most of the aspirations that the nation had at the closure of the 1980s have not been realized. The executive and the legislature have not fully embraced truly plural and cooperative forms of organization in that in practice, the legislature is still unicameral, governance of the country is till unitary rather than cooperative ( which is associated with devolution of power to local spheres of government including regions and districts). As such, power is still concentrated at the national sphere...