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| Malawi Economic Justice Network -
Comments on the proposed Malawi Budget 2001-2002
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| 2. Accountability Expenditures |
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The table below outlines expenditures for the key accountability agencies, which are also crucial to effective poverty reduction.
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| Spending on Accountability Agencies |
2000/01 Approved |
2000/01 Revised |
2001/02 Estimate |
2001/02 Adjusted for Inflation |
Increase or Decrease Adjusted for Inflation |
| National Assembly |
293,936,569 |
388,484,597 |
346,222,809 |
263,688,354 |
-10% |
| Judiciary |
197,716,489 |
176,959,087 |
377,981,520 |
287,876,253 |
+47% |
| Office of Ombudsman |
20,682,724 |
20,099,825 |
27,984,229 |
21,313,198 |
+3% |
| Anti Corruption Bureau |
40,370,359 |
53,302,408 |
69,479,603 |
52,916,681 |
+31% |
| Law Commission |
33,555,239 |
97,630,608 |
63,497,428 |
48,360,570 |
+44% |
| Human Rights Commission |
17,252,294 |
34,959,212 |
37,804,655 |
28,792,578 |
+67% |
| National Audit Office |
22,235,439 |
26,672,723 |
34,059,708 |
25,940,372 |
+17% |
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MEJN commends the Government on proposing to increase expenditure on almost all of the 'accountability agencies'. However, the one key exception is the National Assembly, where expenditure is set to decrease by 10%. The PRSP- Findings to Date clearly stated that the role of Parliament in scrutinising the actions of Government is crucial for effective poverty reduction, yet we find the Government is intending to spend less and not more on Parliament. In particular the committee system was cited by the PRSP groups as being the critical mechanism for monitoring. However, this year's budget only allows for a total of 40 committee meetings for all the 18 committees together (just over 2 days each). The Public Accounts Committee, arguably one of the most effective committees last year, met for more than 40 days. The budget for committee meetings is therefore completely inadequate.
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Overall it must also be noted that expenditure of Government on accountability is still dwarfed by other expenditures. Government is proposing to spend twice as much this year on the OPC as it will on Parliament. Government will also spend twice as much on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as it will on the Judiciary. Lastly, the combined total expenditure for the Ombudsman, ACB, Law Commission, Human Rights Commission and the National Audit Office (total 177 million MK) is still substantially less than that being allocated to State Residences (234 million MK). It is in making these comparisons and not in percentage increases that we see the commitment of the Government to accountable expenditure
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