Political parties have expressed commitment towards incorporating issues of improving water, sanitation, and hygiene into their manifestos.
This was stated on Tuesday in Mponela, Dowa, during an engagement meeting with political parties organized by the Water and Environmental Sanitation Network (WESNET).
During the meeting, WESNET presented a position paper that indicated the status of WASH in Malawi. According to the 2023 Joint Monitoring Program by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 18% of Malawi’s population has access to safely managed drinking water sources, and there is a significant gap between urban and rural areas. Furthermore, only 46% of the national population has access to a toilet that is functional and clean.
In an interview with AfricaBrief, WESNET Board Chairperson Panganani Njolomole emphasized the importance of engaging political parties to include WASH issues in their manifestos. “We want an increase of 5% allocation from the national budget so that we can manage to address some of the gaps in the WASH sector. It’s not that 5% is a low figure, because we are also considering our starting point. The current budget has an allocation of 3%, which is also an increase from previous ones, and we want to have more.”
In his remarks, Center for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) Vice Chairperson and Secretary General for the People’s Party (PP), Ben Chakhame, concurred that WASH services should be prioritized. “It is true that, as political parties, we need to prioritize WASH regardless of our differences. We would like to commend WESNET for bringing us together, and as you’ve heard, we have made commitments to improve WASH in the country.”
WESNET recommends that political parties include, in their manifestos, at least universal access to safe water and sanitation, an increase in WASH budgetary allocation to at least 5% of the national budget, and improved staffing levels in the WASH sector, among other things. Political parties such as the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), UTM, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), People’s Party (PP), and United Democratic Front (UDF) were present.
