Agenda Item 4 28 March 2018 CPA Paper/S5/17-18/4/1 Private Paper BEC Members only. Technical assistance with the National Assembly of Malawi

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1 Technical assistance with the National Assembly of Malawi Background At the last meeting of the BEC on 21 February 2018 the Branch Secretary was asked to provide updated information about the Scottish Parliament s relationship with the National Assembly of Malawi and to provide a figure on how much the Parliament had spent on inward and outward engagement. In addition the BEC asked for information about the involvement of international organisations in providing capacity building support to the National Assembly. Current status of the National Assembly It has proved extremely difficult to obtain up to date information about how the National Assembly is working as an institution. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has no specific information about the National Assembly and DfID Malawi has not replied to s and contact by telephone has also been unsuccessful. Our contacts in the FCO are aware of this and will contact DfID to provide some information. In addition, despite extensive searching on-line, there does not appear to be an up to date donor mapping document. The evidence through on-line media suggests that nothing much has changed since the last delegation of Members visited in February The National Assembly has planned plenary and committee meetings as they did in However some of the committees (as mentioned by MPs during the 2015 visit) require meeting more frequently to fully scrutinise legislation and conduct committee inquiries. We understand that some recruitment of committee clerks has taken place but it is unclear if they are additional members of staff or will replace clerks who have left or are due to leave. The National Assembly is provided with a budget which is drawn down from the Treasury when required. Assuming that arrangements are the still the same then it is unlikely that the budget is sufficient for the Assembly to operate effectively. We have asked the National Assembly to provide data on committees, bills, motions lodged, questions tabled etc. to gauge if the business of parliament has changed in any way over the last five years. We received a positive response from officials although record keeping at the Assembly is weak and it will take time to pull the information together. Members of the BEC should be aware that due to limited resources at the National Assembly straightforward requests for information place an additional burden on staff there. 1

2 There is pictorial evidence which suggests that the National Assembly is encouraging members of the public to visit by holding events within the building. It is not possible to estimate how many events have taken place but this is a positive step forward to involve members of the public in parliamentary events. It would appear that the National Assembly is functioning better than it was when the first Scottish Parliament delegations visited in 2005 and At that time there was one committee clerk and two researchers to support 14 committees. There was no set sitting calendar for meeting of the House or committees and no interaction with CSOs and other groups who might normally be expected to engage with Parliament. Costs of engagement with the National Assembly of Malawi Financial records are not available for most of the period from 2005 until 2015 however financial information attributed to main activities was recorded in CPA Scotland Branch meeting papers and reports and from this data the best estimate of total expenditure is in the region of 184,000. This estimate does not include hospitality for inward visits organised by other organisations such as the British Council, Scottish Government etc. and Head of State visits. A breakdown of the total cost is attached at Annex A. International organisations providing support to the National Assembly. Until 2013, several international donors were providing Balance of Payment and Budget Support to Malawi. In line with the Paris Declaration on donor harmonisation, many donors, including the UK, channelled general budget support through the Joint Framework for Common Approach to Budget Support (CABS) in cooperation with other development partners. Fundamental principles outlined in the Joint Framework are commitment to poverty reduction, respect for human rights, democratic principles, sound macroeconomic management, and good governance. However, following the corruption scandal, known as Cashgate, in which more than 60 business and public officials have been arrested for stealing more than USD 32 million from April to September 2013, the international donor community immediately suspended general budget support to the government. Development aid did not cease. These funds were redirected through other channels to support the people in Malawi. In addition, according to international development websites the international community has been supporting the capacity building of key institutions like the Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau, Malawi Police Service, the Reserve Bank of Malawi, the Auditor General s office and the National Statistical Office. Many projects funded by the US, Norway, Ireland, UK, Denmark, Canada and the EU focus on human rights, strengthening CSOs to hold government to account, advocacy and gender issues. The UK has not provided direct budget support to the Malawi Government since 2011 when the former President expelled the UK High Commissioner. Following resumption of diplomatic relations the UK Government, in line with others involved in international aid continued to withhold direct budget support. It seems that the Norwegians may be the only donor funding projects within the Assembly under the management of other development agencies. 2

3 The Enhancing Malawi Parliament Project which is being funded by the Norwegian Embassy until 2020 combines interventions that engage and shape the power relations, incentives, and influences within and outside parliament, to address the Parliament s current underperformance. The project seeks to inspire supportive political behaviour and reforms, and strengthen capacity that enables performance improvement and effective delivery of Parliamentary functions. The project is anchored within the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to enable parliament to own, inform and steer its implementation and ensure sustainability of the interventions. The project is addressing both the political and technical bottlenecks that limit the capacity of parliament to effectively fulfil its mandate. The project team, comprising diverse local and international experts in governance and evidenceinformed transformational change, works closely with all leaders across the political spectrum to galvanise sustainable action to decisively improve the performance of the Assembly. The Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi, Hon. Richard Msowoya, said, I m happy that we are launching one of the best projects of the Malawi Parliament. As a Malawian, when I look at how we link up with the Executive and the Judiciary, I know that there is a lot that needs to be done. We need to tackle the issues that make us uncomfortable. We know that Parliament could do a lot if it had legal autonomy, we know that parliament could do a lot if it had budget autonomy, and we also know that parliament could do a lot if it had operational autonomy. This project is an opportunity for us to address these challenges once and for all. The project will be implemented with technical assistance from the African Institute for Development Policy as the lead technical partner, and the Institute of Policy Research and Social Empowerment. The South African Parliamentary Support Trust and the Malawi National Assembly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 6 December 2017 aimed at enhancing cooperation in a mutually beneficial way. The MoU is consistent with SAPST s mission to provide technical and financial support, whose effect would strengthen parliamentary processes and public participation in the legislative process for good governance and accountability. Some of the activities implemented by SAPST so far include training of Budget Committee members in programme based budgeting, gender-based budgeting and the social accountability approach in public resource management oversight. The Health committee was supported to convene a workshop on human resource deployment in the health sector, while the education committee was assisted to convene a public hearing around the national budget for the education sector. The organisation is also supporting a live radio program whereby MPs discuss with citizens key issues of public interest. The MOU will run until

4 The Government of Malawi recently published the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III which is very interesting, informative and focused document. Development programming in Malawi is closely aligned with development objectives of the Government of Malawi's Growth and Development Strategy for The document makes no specific mention of strengthening the Assembly. The Branch Secretary recently met with Prof Richard Mkandawire, Chair of the National Planning Commission, and Mr Adwell Zembele, Acting Director (Economic Planning) from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development. Margaret Neal Secretary, CPA Scotland Branch Engagement costs with the National Assembly of Malawi: 2005 to date Annex A Date Activity Inward/ Cost outward February 2005 CPA Scotland Branch cross party Outward 20,000 delegation visit to Malawi study visit (7) February 2006 CPA Scotland Branch cross party delegation visit to Malawi study visit (8) Outward 24,000 September 2007 Senior official visited to develop outward 2,000 framework for revision of standing orders October 2007 Cross party delegation visit from NAM Inward 11,000 (7) February 2008 CPA Scotland Branch cross party Outward 6,000 delegation visit to Malawi 3 MSPs and 1 official delivering a workshop on Committee Inquiries May 2008 Clerks study visit (2) Outward 4,300 Clerks study visit (3) Inward 7,700 May 2009 Senior official capacity building visit to Outward 2,000 NAM revision of standing orders February 2010 CPA Scotland Branch cross party delegation visit to Malawi 2 MSPs 1 official delivering workshops on the Outward 6,800 4

5 changing role of parliamentarians, leadership, media August 2010 Visit by the First Deputy Speaker to Inward 5,975 attend For the Common Good session at Festival of Politics and study visit (2) January 2011 Cross party group visit to Malawi. 4 Outward 15,100 MSPs and 2 officials delivered workshops on Media training, women s issues, leadership, legislative scrutiny and Public engagement January week placement for Malawian official Inward 3,800 February 2011 Presiding Officer s visit to Malawi with Outward 12,000 Special Envoy and 2 officials (est) Commonwealth Day 2011 Malawi focused and included an extraordinary meeting of the CPA, special envoy, Scotland Branch, and large reception and dinner 5 Event 11,200 April 2011 Chief Executive s visit to deliver Outward 2,500 workshops on financial scrutiny February 2012 Placement for 2 Malawian officials for 4 Inward 5,000 weeks March 2013 Malawi twinning visit for 2 MSPs and 1 Outward 7,133 official at the NAM March 2013 Malawi Twinning inward visit 2 MPs Inward 5,220 March 2013 David Livingstone memorial service, Westminster abbey 2 MPs 1 MSP and 1 official Event 1,200 March 2013 Placement for 2 Malawian officials for 4 weeks Inward 5,100 Commonwealth Malawi focus with Special Envoy Event 2,200 Day 2013 attending August 2014 Speaker of the NAM visited Inward 2,500 February 2015 Malawi 10 th anniversary and TAP 3 Outward 12,992 outward visit. 3 MSPs and 2 officials. Workshops delivered on Budget scrutiny and public audit accountability, Legislative scrutiny and process, Undertaking committee inquiries Role of the committee clerk and research in committee work March 2015 Assistant Clerk/Chief Executive visit to NAM to develop the Strategic plan June 2015 Placement for 2 Malawian officials for 4 weeks (assigned to committees) November 2015 Delegation from the National Assembly (5) of Malawi Joint public reform study Outward 2,000 Inward 5,200 Inward 250

6 visit September 2016 Visit by 5 Members and 2 officials from Inward 750 the Parliamentary Services Commission National Assembly of Malawi Total 183,920 Summary Total number of inward visits 11 Total costs of inward visits 52,495 Total number of outward visits 13 Total costs of outward visits 116,825 Total number of events 3 Total cost of events 14,600 Session 2: 44,000 Session 3: 90,375 Session 4: 48,795 Session 5: 750 Note: The activity is not a complete picture. There were many other inward visits not paid from the CPA cost centre but from other cost centres and account codes. Margaret Neal Secretary, CPA Scotland Branch margaret.neal@parliament.scot 6