Malawi leader President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has expressed strong commitment towards greater transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement if Malawi is to attain her development aspirations by 2063.
Dr Chakwera was speaking at the opening of the 8th OGP Global Summit in Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia.
The Malawi leader who spoke virtually highlighted the journey this country has taken towards making Government more transparent and responsive to Malawians. He further highlighted the areas that the country is prioritising in the implementation of its OGP National Action Plan and the progress Malawi has registered so far.
“Last year, when I hosted Malawi’s first ever Anti-Corruption Conference, I declared war on corruption and embarked on a vigorous campaign against it. But ultimately, the goal is not merely to win the fight, but to establish public trust in the integrity of public institutions and systems of public service delivery,” he said.
The Malawi leader added that his Administration’s focus is the entrenchment of the best practices of good governance driven by transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement. Dr.Chakwera also called on all stakeholders to work together towards achieving the goals outlined in the Malawi National Action Plan for OGP.
“It is this commitment that moved me to urgently re-activate Malawi’s membership into the OGP in December 2022. And I am immensely proud to tell you that two months ago, the Malawi National Action Plan for Open Government Partnership 2023-2025 (NAP) was launched. This speaks to our National Development Blueprint, the Malawi 2063 vision, which aspires to turning Malawi into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper-middle-income country,” he added.
Dr. Chakwera also said that so far Malawi has completed a National Digitalization Policy to widen the scope of ICT and the country is developing legislation for the protection of whistleblowers which will heavily rely on ICT processes and systems.
The Malawi’s multi-stakeholder delegation to the Summit, is being led by the Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr. Janet L. Banda, SC.