Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has expressed fears that the 50 percent cut to their budget in the 2016/17 financial plan will adversely affect most of its activities in safeguarding and promoting human rights in the country.
MHRC has been allocated K110 million from last year’s K220 million to fulfil its mandate of promoting and protecting human rights in the country.
Executive Secretary for MHRC, Grace Malera, said the cut is going to exert challenges given that the commission already operates with limited resources.
“With the cut, the situation has become more compounded. The institution has to go into rationing process to see how best we can achieve optimum results with minimal resources, and when we have gone through that process we also can tap into our partners but then, they are certain basic operational requirements that can only be supported by government. This is going to be another tough year for MHRC,” Malera said.
According to Malera, the commission has lined up a number of activities including an in-depth investigation into the rampant killing of people with albinism and the on-going investigations into the mysterious murder of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) official Issa Njauju.
The commission has also rolled out a programme on budget analysis at local government level, to establish whether funds allocated are being utilised as planned or people’s right to access basic services are being violated through corruption and theft.
“What matters most in human rights provision is access to basic social services such as education, water, infrastructure, health. If there is miss utilisation of resources whether through corruption all those are rights issues hence the idea to track the resources as they go into the ground,” said Malera.
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