Leaders of various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) said at a press briefing on Thursday that they want President Lazarus Chakwera to appoint CSO leaders into parastatal boards to provide checks and balances.
The CSO leaders led by Oliver Nakoma told journalists yesterday that they first made the request to Chakwera in July in Mangochi where the president met with 40 CSOs leaders.
According to the CSOs, they discussed issues that are affecting Malawians and then requested Chakwera to appoint members of CSOs in boards of government owned companies where they provide checks and balances and fight nepotism and corruption.
On meeting with government officials, the CSO leaders said they have realized that protests and presentation of petitions to President Lazarus Chakwera have not been unfruitful as such they have decided to be directly engaging with the president and other government officials to present their concerns and get responses right away.
Nakoma noted that Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations have a role to foster sustain quality life of Malawians and values some of which are societal growth and development.
“During our meeting with government, we shared concerns on perceptions around politicization of public services and projects such as AIP, infrastructure development, public dissatisfaction with state inability to prosecute cases of corruption.
“We also presented the issue of nepotism which is needed to be checked, weak compliance with Political Parties Act and the Access to Information Act,” he said.
On Tuesday, they also met the Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe to understand what the ministry is doing on issues of Affordable Inputs Program (AIP) and retrenchment of staff at Admarc. Lowe assured the CSOs that government is doing everything possible to address.
Nakoma said they will continue to explore opportunities for further engagement with government.
