POSTAL ADDRESS P.O.

Box 5992, Limbe

CONTACT NUMBERS Tel: 01 844 270/01 844 795 Fax: 01 844 270

E- MAIL ADDRESS: info@cama.mw or camamalawi@hotmail.com

28th May, 2013 To:

Limbe Tel: 01 270/01 844 795 All The Honourable Members of844 Parliament The Malawi National Assembly Limbe Fax: 01844 27 Private Bag Number B362 E-MAIL ADDRESS: info@cama.mw or camamalawi@hotmail.com Capital City LILONGWE

Through:

The Speaker of the Malawi National Assembly Malawi National Assembly Private Bag Number B362 Capital City LILONGWE

Dear Honourable Members of the Malawi National Assembly, CRITICAL AREAS THAT GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED TO RESPOND ON OUR 17TH JANUARY, 2013 PETITION We, the Consumers in Malawi would like to address you as hereunder. As you may be aware, Honourable Members of this August House, the Consumers, who also happen to be your constituents, mostly those who took part in the 17th January, 2013 demonstrations, where also a petition was presented to the relevant government officials, made some resolutions that needed some immediate action from the government.

These resolutions are contained in our Press Release dated the 9th day of April, 2013 (a copy of which is hereto attached for ease of reference). In the said Press Release, we highlighted some of the resolutions which are very crucial but were not addressed by the authorities and these may be summarized as follows: 1. FLOATATION OF THE KWACHA Consumers just like any other Malawian including you, the members of this August House are facing a lot of challenges due to the floatation of the kwacha and these challenges include but not limited to: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 the high cost of living; depletion of incomes and salaries; high unemployment; high inflation rates; high cost of base lending rates by the commercial banks.

Immediate implementation of currency floatation after devaluation has proved to be counter-productive since this has had a very negative impact on the cost of living and depleted both the salaries and incomes of Malawians. Consumers are of the view that there are other alternatives which are abit friendlier economic reforms that the government could have used other than floating the currency and leave it to the poor masses to suffer the consequences emanating therefrom. Find attached hereto a copy of our analysis and critique on the current economic reform marked APPENDIX A 2. INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESIDENTIAL TRAVELS
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This is an issue that was discussed between Consumers and the government negotiation team and an assurance was made on the part of the government that there will be significant reduction on the Presidential travels, but to the surprise of the Consumers, there is nothing that has been done to date despite the fact that the country is in a mess economically. Instead of minimizing these travels, the President has continuously travelled to places and functions that could have been handled by either a Minister or a Member of Parliament. When the President travels, a lot of resources that could have been used elsewhere, like in hospitals and in repairing our roads, most of which are in very bad and impassable state. Consumers also requested the government to consider reducing the number of motor vehicles on the Presidential convoy which has never been addressed to date. The Consumers are aware that its a Presidential privilege to have a convoy but our current economic situation would dictate that such privilege is against the current economic challenges where every Malawian, including the President is supposed to play a role. 3. DECLARATION OF ASSETS The government negotiating team has overtly refused and/or rejected the call by Consumers for the top officials to declare their assets for purposes of transparency and accountability. Consumers are of the view that if the President and her Vice declare their assets, the rest of the members of her cabinet and those in the public and Civil Service will follow suit. Corruption is currently rampant in Malawi and the declaration of assets becomes one of the tools to combat the high incidences of corruption. Corruption is one of the major challenges that Consumers in Malawi are subjected and forced to pay for higher prices on goods and services.
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4.

BLOATED CABINET Consumers during the January 17th, 2013 demonstrations called upon the President to reduce her cabinet to a manageable size in order to reflect on the current economic hardships the country is undergoing. We find the call by the President that Malawians should tighten their belts in the current economic crisis to be a mockery where a few selected people have been exempted from the hardship of the current economic reforms. We still demand that the cabinet should be reduced if we are to appreciate her call for us to be patient and tolerant.

5.

SALE OF MERCEDES BENZ CARS The government negotiating team promised that the government was to sell the Ministerial Mercedes Benz motor vehicles through a public auction and any proceeds therefrom would be ploughed back into the government economic system, hence we are still demanding transparency and accountability on how these cars may be sold and/or disposed off.

6.

LOW SALARIES FOR THE CIVIL SERVANTS AND ORDINARY WORKERS IN MALAWI While we appreciate that salaries for some Civil Servants were increased, slightly, we find the increments not to be adequate to caution them against the current economic hardships and the most hit are the low paid Police Officers, teachers and Health workers, those that provide daily services to Consumers. There has, also been no policy statement, whatsoever, from the government to cater for those who are employed in the private sector whose salaries are very low so as to caution them from the current economic hardships. Private employers have taken advantage of lack
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of government policy to address the challenges that employers in the private sector are facing. 7. ROTTEN MAIZE IN THE SILOS As you may be aware, a considerable amount of maize got rotten at the National Food Reserve Authority (NFRA) and this happened at the time the country was in acute need of the staple grain when actually the Consumers were spending days and nights at ADMARC depots. Consumers are still of the view that they have the right to know what really happened and what measures are put in place for this not to happen again. We are, therefore, appealing to this August House, as an independent arm of government to institute a Commission of Enquiry to investigate into this matter so that Malawians are in the know of what really happened. 8. PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVES Malawi is a complete government with all indispensable structures and systems permitting her (the government of Malawi) and her development partners to provide services to the people. We are concerned and continue to wonder why the President needs a parallel structure to personally deliver some programmes which could have been done at a very minimal cost. Such activities include, but not least, personally distribution cows, maize and fertilisers in the presence of legitimate and legally accepted structures or institutions such as Members of line Ministries, such as Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Health. We strongly believe that these programmes can be done without politicizing them so that they become sustainable and cost effective.

It is, therefore, our request to this August House that all programmes are harmonized, budgeted for and implemented within the government proper structures. CONCLUSION We are, therefore, requesting this August House, as an independent arm government, to debate these issues and come up with modalities on how they can be implemented for the benefit of Malawians whom you represent. We hope you will find the above to be in order. Yours sincerely,

___________________ ISAAC GONDWE CHAIRPERSONON FOR THE NORTHERN REGION

__________________ HEBREWS MISOMALI CHAIRPERSON FOR THE CENTRAL REGION

_____________________________ JOHN KAPITO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR