By Sellah Singini:
Government has reactivated its membership in Open Government Partnership (OGP) after it was ceased in 2018.
Director in the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC), Ireen Chikapa disclosed this to Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Wednesday after a two days workshop which aimed at constituting a new national steering committee on Open Government Partnership.
She said government it’s reactivating its status of becoming a member of OGP by bringing together Government, Civil Society and Private Sector to constitute a new National Steering Committee with clear Terms of Reference (TORs) which should fast-tract development and oversee implementation of a new National Action Plan for OGP.
“Malawi has operated without a National Action Plan on open governance since the expiry of the old National Action Plan in 2018. As a consequence at the international level, OGP steering committee meeting on March 24, 2022 determined to designate Malawi as inactive member of the OGP grouping,” Chikapa said.
She added that government failed to submit its National Action Plan in 2018 because it was busy with elections and court issues in 2019.
One of the participants in the workshop, Executive Director for Council of NGO’s in Malawi Ronald Mtonga said it was very important that government has reactivated its status of becoming a member of OGP after its expiry in 2018.
He said the workshop has helped all the stakeholders to resolve all issues that made Malawi not do well in 2018 and that the new steering committee that has been constituted would work in regaining the country’s active status.
In 2013, Malawi joined the OGP an international grouping of countries that aim at fostering good governance and improving relations between citizens and the state.
Currently, the OGP comprises about 80 countries working to implement open government commitments to promote greater transparency, accountability and citizen engagement in policy-making.
