Good leaders are transparent and accountable

n many discourses, we cannot

talk
about
transparency
and
accountability
without
mentioning our leaders. The leaders
such as councilors, Members of
Parliament, civil servants, chiefs
and many others are the ones that
lead in the implementation of
various projects by government or
Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs).

It is from this background that

leadership,
accountability
and
transparency go together and are
inseparable in a democratic system.
According to Michael Hyatt, coauthor of a book titled Living
forward: A Proven Plan to stop
Drifting and get the Life you want,
leadership
and
accountability
go together and one can easily
become a good leader if he or she is
accountable to the people they lead.
If duty-bearers in our communities
refuse to be transparent and
accountable then they cannot be
trusted in the implementation of
development projects.
Everyone wants to be a leader.
However, few are prepared to accept
the accountability that goes with
it. But you cant have one without
the other. They are two sides of the
same coin, he wrote.
Citizens have a right to demand
transparency and accountability
from their leaders based on the

unnecessary respect to the authority

and this retards development.
We fear the authority so much that
even when those in power are doing
something wrong, we dont want to
call them to account. We have very
tolerant levels of mediocrity, he
said in Mzimba two weeks ago.

with DYSON MTHAWANJI and TIWONGE TASHA KUMWENDA

fact that public projects belong to
the community. Good leaders do
not wait for their people to march
against them for poor leadership
which lacks transparency and
accountability.
A good leader becomes transparent
and accountable even before he or
she is demanded by the community
to do so. Citizens should always
check whether duty-bearers are on
right track or not.
However, it does not always mean
that something is muddled when
citizens demand transparency and
accountability from their leaders;
sometimes the citizens just want
to follow all the steps of public
development projects because it
is their right as sometimes funds
for such projects are from citizens
taxes. Therefore, leaders should not
get worried and shiver when the
citizens muster courage and demand
these two important values.

We understand that development

projects
encounter
various
challenges which usually delay
or halt the whole project. But if
the duty-bearers are silent or hide
information, people will conclude
that something shady happened.
For example, they may speculate
that someone embezzled funds.
This brings chaos.
For a long time Malawians have had
strange fears for their own leaders.
Yes, the same leaders they put in
power by vote. But in a democracy,
citizens should not fear dutybearers. Citizens should demand
transparency and accountability
from duty-bearers starting from
the first day of implementation of
any development project in their
community.
Speaker of the National Assembly
Richard Msowoya is quoted as
saying many Malawians give

As we count down to 2019 for

us to vote again in the tripartite
elections, witty councilors and MPs
ensure that they are transparent
and accountable on every step they
take when executing their duties.
This is a free password to unlock
victory on Election Day in 2019.
With massive civic education by
various NGOs such as National
Initiative for Civic Education (Nice)
Trust, many Malawians have now
realised that they are the owners
of public development projects
and that their leaders are there
just to facilitate implementation.
Therefore, leaders should not take
citizens for granted because they
have a right on who to vote for.
Days when political leaders used to
claim that the money for development
projects is from their pockets are
gone. Now, Malawians know that
there is Constituency Development
Fund (CDF) and Local Development
Fund (LDF) which come from
government not MPs pockets.

Feedback: mthawanjid@gmail.com / tiwonge.kumwenda@actionaid .org / emuwamba@gmail.com

Furthermore, NGOs have a role

to champion transparency and
accountability by including these two
values in their projects. Actionaid
in conjunction with Civil Society
Agriculture Network (Cisanet) is
implementing a project to specifically
promote
social
accountability,
budget tracking and transparency
in Rumphi, Mchinji, Phalombe and
Nsanje. However, NGOs that are
not implementing a similar project
can still include these two values
in any project they want to unfurl
because without transparency and
accountability a project can attract
unnecessary speculation among
citizens and this derail the projects
planned objectives and goals.
As long as there is nothing
underhanded, our duty-bearers will be
in forefront raising a flag announcing
transparency and accountability in
every official step they take.
European Union (EU) which is
funding our three year transparency
and accountability project in the
mentioned four districts is much
interested to see that our dutybearers are always transparent
and accountable in development
projects implementation. EU head
of delegation Marchel Gerrmann
believes that Malawi can make a
huge step forward in transforming
her social and economic set-up if
there is absolute transparency. n