Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu has been challenged over his criticism to the European Union (EU) and Britain for demanding government to finalise and circulate a report on corruption to enable stakeholders to take action.
In April last year, the Malawi Government held a high-profile conference on corruption where stakeholders discuss how to combat corruption in the country, among other issues.
European Union Ambassador Marchel Germann is on record saying the development partners were still waiting for the official report of the Conference.
But Tembenu said on the second day of the conference all delegates were given the recommendations and that a report would not change anything.
Tembenu’s comment prompted governance activist Mankhumbo Munthali – as one of the delegates who participated in both the conference and the preceding stakeholder consultations under the burner of Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) and Public Affairs Committee (PAC) -that the Justice Minister is not being honest by saying that he already presented the demanded report during the conference.
” What donors and Civil Society are demanding is a report -as committed by government- that amongst other issues clearly document the roadmap on how government would address the issues raised during the conference and the preceding consultations it had conducted,” Munthali told Nyasa Times.
He said what Tembenu is claiming to have been circulated to the delegates is a mere compilation of findings that came out from the consultations which government had conducted prior to the conference.
“However, government committed more than just a mere sharing of the findings. It promised to come back to the stakeholders and all Malawians with a detailed report which would amongst other things contain a roadmap on how government would ensure that the issues raised during both the conference and consultations are addresed.
“Otherwise, it is a waste of donor and tax payers money to just end at presenting findings without showing the way forward on how government would address the issues raised in the conference,” Munthali added.
