President Professor Peter Mutharika has challenged Chief Secretaries and senior government officials in Africa to implement evidence based policies and only those that would bear fruits to the citizenry.
Mutharika made the appeal on Monday when he officially opened the third Africa Cabinet Secretaries round table workshop held at Kamuzu Palace, Lilongwe which was organised to among others; find solutions to the challenges facing the African continent as well as formulate rightful procedures on how governments could effectively implement their policies.
Mutharika said many Governments in Africa and beyond were facing challenges on how to develop and implement policies that would be beneficial to their citizens.
He said these countries have heavily relied on policies developed elsewhere particularly from the western nations something that contributed to the inefficiency of almost each and every government.
“I support a diachronic and endogenous approach to policy making in Africa. Diachronic because the foresight of policy must be guided by the wisdom of hindsight and that the policy must be informed by the insight of internal realities and evolve from indigenous situations of our people.
“The theme of your Conference resonates well with challenges we face today and it is time we start to think about enhancing Government’s effectiveness through evidence-informed Policy-making,” the Malawi Leader explained.
He added, “It is a fact that policy decisions are influenced by a range of factors, including interests, values, and timing. Therefore, policy-makers must sift through these factors with evidence and analysis in order to make informed judgment.”
The President said without evidence as the basis, policies are bound to be theoretical and unpractical and that such policies may simply end up on book shelves where they would gather dust.
However Malawi emphasised that African nations need policies that will directly confront and address African challenges such as poverty, inequality, as well as corruption.
This year’s workshop is deliberated under the theme: Enhancing Governments effectiveness informed policy making,”
Dr. Ernest Surrur, President of the Council of the Africa Secretaries said despite that the council was in its developmental stage expectations were high for a greater and positive change in the execution of government business.
Dr Surrur said, through the experience and knowledge sharing, quality and delivery of service as well as mutual understanding between politician and Cabinet secretaries in the implementation of decision and policies would be enhanced.
“I would like to echo with the President that African problems can be well discussed and solved by African countries without the pressure from the outside. We are geared to use this Council to impact our countries,” Dr Surrur said.
Malawi’s Chief Secretary to the Government, George Mkondiwa said as country, Malawi has used the Network as a forum for sharing experiences, knowledge and good practices around the improvements of decision making in government.
Mkondiwa said from 2014 when the Network was established, five senior cabinet officers from the country’s cabinet office participated in the two training courses.
“The effect of these courses in Malawi is manifest in the quality of the policies that are being developed now and also in the production of the guide to the executive decision -making process to be launched soon,” he said.
The African Cabinet Government Network (ACGN) is a voluntary organisation of Cabinet Secretaries established in 2014. The network was created out of necessity to provide formal and informal opportunities for the collaboration, mutual support and sharing of practical experiences.
The network was as well established to provide technical assistance to the cabinet secretaries and others involved in managing the cabinet processes in Africa in order to facilitate evidence informed collective decision making by governments and effective implementation of their decisions.
