CIVIL SOCIETY'S ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWI DEMOCRACY

By: Qeko

The call by Malawi’s President, Prof. Bingu Wa Muthalika that civil society need to be transparent and accountable is a welcoming development in the country. Key to this call is that civil society needs to show how they are funded and how the money is used in the country. For years civil society organisations in the country have been criticising and questioning government over similar issues of accountability and transparency. Now it is interesting that the same measure they used to criticise government will be used to measure them. Of course some of the civil society organisations have questioned the motive of the state over the matter.

I may not know how many civil society organisations are in the country at the moment but a quick look into our democracy shows that they have contributed in one way or the other in retarding the growth of our democracy. In as much as they are fast to accuse Government on the matter, they have equally played a huge role in hindering progress in our democracy.

Now step taken by government is a positive development because some things need to be done which would include a review of the operation of the civil society since their inception in the country. Such reviews would be a best way forward so that civil society organisations that are effectively and positively contributing to the country’s social, political and economic development be given the space to function while decision could be made for those that have failed to carryout their give mandate. Reviews are important in the operating of any agency because this gives room to indentify the weak areas and propose for a best way forward for their improvement. Without review, it would be difficult to exactly know if progress is actually made. It is not about having million civil society agencies in the country but its about quality and their effectiveness in a democracy.

Since the dawn of democracy in 1993, civil society organisations accountability and transparency has been key issue. They have been accountable to their donors and not government in as much as it is from government that they get permission to operate and function in the country. This writer believes that that if in their original application civil society stipulates that they would function to confront government then for sure they would not been accepted and allowed to operate in the country. Now that they have by and large turned into political movements then we may as well argue that they have abdicated their original intent. It is in this view that review of the civil society operations in the country could assist to exactly identify and know their original plan of action as per content of their registration.

The argument that civil society in Malawi are accountable to their donor and not government is babish and unfounded because in the first place the civil society in family operate within the parameters of the nation of Malawi and that being the case, government is the chief custodian of everything that happens in the country. In the first place all civil society organisations get permission from government to operate in the country. Now just as Government gives them licence to operate in the country, the same government has to power to determine their operation in the country.