(MENAFN- The Maravi Post) The National Advocacy Platform (NAP), a grouping of civil society and citizens has once again petitioned the country's Parliament and executive on political, social and economic challenges rocking the nation.In a ten clear points petition titled, "Grand Petition II (2016)", the platform seeks Parliamentarians' indulgency of making sure that all citizens enjoy equal rights enshrined in various legal and policy instruments including the country's constitution.
The grouping believes that for Malawi to make remarkable progress on its economic growth there is a need for the nation to effectively address political, social and economic challenge.
Among other key notable points the platform want legislators to act upon include eradication of all forms of violence and discrimination against children, women, people with disability and political opponents, stop the killings of albinos, ending hunger by depoliticizing the agriculture sector, invest in massive irrigation programs and declare maize as a protected crop.
The civil society also seeks Malawi government's total commitment towards improvement of public hospitals' sorrow state. By ensuring that health facilities are have food, drugs and functional medical equipment-the breakdown of health care system affecting the poor most.
In the petition, the platform comprised of Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN), Eye for Development (ED) and State of the Union Coalition (SOTU) want legislators to enhance compliance with regional and international charters and protocols including African Union (AU) instruments for the benefit of citizens.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Maravi Post after presenting grievances in the capital Lilongwe, Edward Chileka, ED's Director, emphasized the need for lawmakers to seriously track down the implementation of the national budget which according to him has little impact towards improvement of people's lives.
Chileka said Malawi Parliament needed to take a different direction in deliberating national budget by putting strong mechanisms of making sure that public funds allocated for various programs is not misappropriated or landed into wrong hands.
"We want Members of Parliament (MP) to start thinking outside the box of only debating the budget but also on other productive strategies of generating incomes for the nation's financial plan. We are still a consuming and importing nation which erodes already stricken economy.
"Legislators must use Local Development Funds (LDF) and Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for productive activities including provisions of soft loans to young people to start business. This will help them stand economically viable.
"Lawmakers must prioritize on youth development by establishing Parliamentary youth committee and awarding young entrepreneurs 30% of public contracts as a response to rising youth unemployment," suggested Chileka.
On his part, Dalitso Kubalasa, MEJN's Executive Director expressed worrisome over treasury failure to include some of the key economic strategies aimed at improving the ailing economy.
Kubalasa observed that overspending coupled with over borrowing is crippling the country's growth where corruption in the public sector has reached untamed level.
Reacting to the petition, Rhino Chiphiko, Malawi Congress Party (MCP)'s lawmaker who is also the Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance bemoaned the tendency of treasury of coming up with a fixed national budget which don't give them room to improve figures for the betterment of locals.
Chiphiko therefore implored civil society to strongly help his committee by continuing providing technical support of over sighting government expenditures.
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