'Pass budget unconditionally'--Tamani
by DEOGRATIAS MMANA - Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 16:17:44

The Public Affairs Committee (Pac) on Tuesday re-elected Fr. Boniface Tamani as its chairperson for the next three years. He was the lone candidate for the post. Our reporter DEOGRATIAS MMANA caught up with him soon after the elections to find out how he intends to run Pac for the next three years, among other issues. Excerpts: What are your immediate challenges as you re-assume the Pac chairpersonship?
”The challenges are those that have been there before like the current political impasse, and to ensure that Malawians put matters of national interest first. The other thing is to look at how the organisation will work now that there is a board of trustees which was not there before. We will also look at how we can implement the other systems that have been put in place like the code of conduct, the new standing orders and Constitution that were not there before and have become effective today. The other challenge is the issue of the national budget.”
What is the current of position of PAC on Section 65 and the budget wrangle between the opposition and government Members of Parliament? ”PAC assembly has clearly said that the budget is not something that you can compromise on and they are appealing to MPs and the political parties that they must approve the budget unconditionally. The word used is unconditionally because you cannot compare the budget to section 65. They are by far quite distant from each other. The national budget is the life blood of the nation. You are talking about drugs in the hospitals, education, agriculture, the roads and anything that you can think of that can develop the country. And for anybody to think that he can sit on that because of Section 65, the assembly (Pac) thinks it is unreasonable and unacceptable. We are not saying that the law should not be followed on Section 65. We are saying that it can be done later. First of all, lives of the people must be saved and secondly you can talk about things that deal with the House and nobody can go against that.” Are you giving the MPs a time-frame to do that? ”No. We are not saying that we should give them a time-frame. But I think certainly the nation is going to react to the unreasonableness of putting section 65 and the budget on the same level. It is unacceptable and unreasonable to do that.
“And I am sure in 2009, people will see who was doing this because it means that such people who are against the budget have no concern for the lives of the people. They do not mind whether hospitals have no medicine. They do not mind whether people who are sustaining themselves on ARVs can get what they need. They are putting millions of people’s lives in danger. “You cannot compare the lives of human beings to that. People are now going to react to MPs and political parties that are doing this.”
What direction shall Pac now take on the negotiation talks between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his predecessor Bakili Muluzi?
”We will continue with the talks because we believe that dialogue is important while we hold the very same grounds in terms of not compromising on the budget. We believe that people have many genuine issues and the budget is not the main issue. And, of course, we cannot excuse government. The way government has been behaving and the language used at mass rallies is unacceptable. We are not saying that we are closing eyes to what government is doing or to what the opposing is doing. That is why we are saying dialogue is important. We shall come in and urge them to be part of the dialogue because that is the only way of solving such problems. But as for the budget, no. That is not an issue that we can discuss. It cannot be compromised. The assembly is appealing to them to go back to Parliament as soon as possible and pass the budget. The negotiation talks between Mutharika and Muluzi have compromised Pac's mandate. Pac is failing to perform its advocacy role as it used to in the past.” Why don’t you just ignore the talks and come back to your advocacy role? ”We decided to compromise on our advocacy role because it is very difficult to mix advocacy with mediation at the same time. You cannot condemn people today and tomorrow you go and seek an audience with them. What Pac decided to do was to issue the concerns to the concerned parties when we met them and they also gave us their concerns. We are afraid that once we start stepping our feet on other people’s toes they would not give us the audience that we require. That is why you have seen Pac remain quiet on very important issues. We failed to come out and speak on such issues because of the mediation talks.”
What has Pac achieved so far? ”One thing is our standing for what is true. We did that clearly towards the 2004 general elections. We spoke our minds. We were also behind the way the elections were held. We had meetings everywhere. We did the actual monitoring of the elections. We were also against the third term issue. So, we were part and parcel of the successful elections in 2004. ”And last year, we bargained with political parties to pass the national budget. You remember, they were about to reject the budget. They passed it. After the budget was passed we went ahead with mediation talks to address concerns that had come up. In terms of the mediation exercise, we have learnt from both the opposition and government. We have also trained some eminent people in mediation. ”We also worked on HIV and Aids and gender-based violence. We have also helped over 100 orphans with school fees. We have supported orphanages with items and training. We have trained people on how they can take care of and understand orphans. In terms of HIV and Aids prevention and people living with the virus, we have dealt with them and helped them a lot. We have also made our Constitution available to many people in the country. We are also contributing to the Constitution Review process. We have held conferences to that effect.” What is your vision of Pac?
“I would love to see Pac as an institution that continues to speak for the voiceless. The other thing is to see that democratic values are entrenched into people’s lives. Those things must be in the people’s hearts so that they can defend them before anybody else and that they cannot be exploited by politicians. I would also like to see religious leaders more and more not being tossed this way and that way and being abused. I would want to see religious leaders being capable of understanding what they are there for and being able to stand for what is right before God and humanity other than going for money.”
What conduct of MPs would you want to prevail in the august House? ”We would love to see people debating on issues in the interest of the nation and not on party lines. They meet there as a branch of government and not as MCP, DPP or UDF. Even though they have those colours, when they go there, they go into the house of the nation and that is why they are called honourables and they are supposed to behave in an honourable way. Sometimes I hesitate to call some of them honourables because of the manner in which they portray themselves. Discussions are also supposed to be honourable too. We are not saying that they cannot have differences. They can have differences but their discussions should be honourable in the sense of values that they stand for. That needs to go into their heads.” What is it that makes some of our MPs behave improperly in the august House?
“The problem is that we are not yet democratic. And the same people who have been undemocratic for the past years are the same with undemocratic ideas today and they continue to influence their political parties. I would like to ask that new blood should come in. The nation does need new blood of politicians so that they can carry the new political dispensation ahead.” Any last words? ”I would like to ask the public to take the issue of the budget very seriously and to take to task their parliamentarians because the consequences are drastic. Every Malawian needs the budget.”

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