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The Seven Principles of Public Life

Sorry guys I have been lazy on this. I pulled this from the internet and I thought I should share it with you. I think it is very important information.


Selflessness : Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.
Integrity : Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.
Objectivity : In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.
Accountability : Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.
Openness : Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.
Honesty : Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.
Leadership : Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Elements of Best PracticeBest practice, subject always to proportionality for smaller organisations, includes:

Appointments
a publicly available written appointments process;
job descriptions and person specification;
the use of advertisement and/or consultation with interested bodies and other forms of canvassing;
the encouragement of nominations (including self-nominations);
the sifting of candidates by a nominations committee;
defined terms of appointment after which reappointment should not be automatic.

Openness
making the agendas and minutes of governing body meetings widely available, together with board papers where this will not inhibit frankness and clarity;
publicising forthcoming meetings and summarising decisions in a newsletter or through some other user-friendly method;
holding an open annual meeting at which board members can be questioned by the public and press;
setting up more specialised consultation bodies for important interest groups;
publishing an annual report which includes information on the role and remit of the body, its plans or strategy; the membership of the board; and where further information can be obtained;
publishing audit reports;
making publications available as widely as possible, for example by sending them to interested parties and putting them in local public libraries.

Codes of conduct
a statement of the aims and values of the body;
statements of the obligations of the body towards its customers, staff, community, and other interested parties;
information about the body's approach to openness and arrangements for acquiring information about its activities;
procedures for handling inquiries and complaints;
procedures for raising complaints with an independent body.

Whistleblowing
a clear statement that malpractice is taken seriously in the organisation and an indication of the sorts of matters regarded as malpractice;
respect for the confidentiality of staff raising concerns if they wish, and the opportunity to raise concerns outside the line management structure;
penalties for making false and malicious allegations;
an indication of the proper way in which concerns may be raised outside the organisation if necessary.

Quantitative easing

Thursday the fourth of March saw interest rate being slushed again to 0.5%. The aim is to make borrowing cheap and stimulate demand in the economy. While this is good news for those with a mortgage to pay its not good news for savers(I am not one of them). One other thing is that this tool seemes to have lost traction. If it does not work I dont see the Bank of England reducing IR to zero. The other problem the economy has is that of inflation, not that it is increasing but actually it is decreasing and this phenomenon is reffered to as disinflation, that is when inflation is decreasing but remains positive. The situation that noone in this country aspires to be in is that of deflation, this is means there is a fall in how much the whole economy is willing to buy, and the going price for goods. Because the price of goods is falling, consumers have an incentive to delay purchases and consumption until prices fall further, which in turn reduces overall economic activity - contributing to the deflationary spiral.

To show that there are still a few tricks up the sleeve of the Bank of England they have now come up with another tool called 'quantitative easing'. This basically means printing money. This is what the BOE can and is going to do now. Desperate situations require desperate measures. QE is similar to what Mugabe is doing in Zimbabwe but we know that Mervin King (the Governor of the Bank of England) is a much smarter guy than the comrade. As observed from the Zimbabwe scenario printing money has the effect of increasing inflation, which is exactly what the BoE wants to do to avoid deflation. In his own words though, Mervin King, said this is not an exact science, so the jury is still out on this.

I think most people will be asking how QE is going to work, I will give a very brief descrption of how this is going to work. Firstly, Quantitative Easing is defined as the creation of new money out of 'thin air' by a central bank, and its injection into the banking system. The aim is to increase the amount of deposits in private banks so that, by way of deposit multiplication, they can increase the money supply by increasing debt (lending). The key word here for me is lending. The economy desperately needs the banks to start lending again which, unfortunately despite all the measures taken they seem reluctant to do. For clarification's sake there will be no printing of money everything will be done electronically, since the banks have an account with the BoE their accounts will be credited with an amount of money hence the banks will be flooded with excess liqidity to promote private lending and reducing their risk to liquidity shortage. There are viable businesses out there that are in a desperate situation not because they cannot sell but because they are out of cash and thats where the banks come in, if the banks lend them money(overdrafts) they will be able to pay the wages and also buy raw materials putting people back into work, once a lot of people are back into work then there will be an increase in demand for goods. The psychological battle is to convince a jittery banking system to start lending again.

I will not be able to draw any comparisons between the situation here and our economy in Malawi, I will leave that to you guys since you are the experts. I think it was Gordon Brown who said that a weak currency is a reflection of a weak economy and a weak Government. I hear the Malawi currency is gaining strength, what does this say about the current government of Bingu.

I will sign-off by asking few a questioning to you guys; How is the economic downturn affecting our economy and which areas of the economy are most hit? Are we prepared for this; if not what is it that we need to do in order to ease the effects?

I have to confess that I am not an economist and I will be glad to take your comments on this article.

A Political Bitesize

Following an earlier visit just a week ago, at the alleged call by the President, former presidents Kufour and Chissano will be coming again purpotedly to reason with Eleson to withdraw his candidature. The duo, a mission sanctioned by AU to quell pre-election tensions in Malawi following Bingu's complaint to the AU, had a discussion with Bingu, Eleson, Ungapake and MEC officials to chart a way forward for a violence free elections come May 19. Actually, it will only be Chissano jetting in this afternoon following increasing tensions over Eleson's arrest. The concerns have come in the wake of disputed polls in Kenya and Zimbabwe that have ended in power sharing deals with opposition members-raw deals for the electorate.
Draconian tackticks have been applied by both govt. and opposition to gain political mileage. Opposition has widely been selling the opinion that the govt. is set to rig the forthcoming elections without giving concrete evidence-preferring to have a parallel tally centre form the one manned by MEC- something that does not have the necessary constitutional provisions to back it. Pundits at law, clearly articulated that creation of a parallel tally centre was a move to rig the elections in itself and there has never been any formal complaint against MEC incapability to handle any election in the last 3 elections we have had. Besides, results counting and verification is done right at the polling station with all contesting parties' involvement and acceptance of the outcomes.
Those who broke the law in the previous regime and have been finding refugee under court injunctions have to finally face the cold after judges stripped the temporary immunity. Basically, it was a move to keep postponing pursuance of the court cases so that they can cry loud to the world under the guise of political persecution. The man Ungapake has been a bundle of contradictions after earlier starting that he is a changed man at the party's convention last November. However, Ungapake was on record last month that he shall retaliate and he shall protect Eleson.
More later-BJ and Ukafuna Deal Fatsa embroilered in a legal tussle over the party's decision to fire Brown Sugar due to his alliance with Ungapake.

Source: De Gaule

The Social Dynamics of Our Politics

I guess sounds like an artitle for a doctoral research. I promise to do something about this.

The Social Dynamics of Our Politics

I got some recent news from Malawi and I think the political scene is becoming more and more exciting. A source from within sent me the following and I hope it makes sence to anyone reading.

Brown and JZU bedfellows?? Eleson and Clement runningmates?? Eleson charged on 87 counts-condensed into 7 over corruption?? Bingu and Joyce runningmates?? Aleke retires from politicts?? Mbuya, Ralph and Uladi not happy with direction of alliance with UDF??? Maulidi (SG) of MPP takes his president- Uladi to court over dismissal from party against allegations of being sent to DPP to seek a working relationship?? IG fired over questionning the use of police band on DPP party manifesto launches??

The advent of elections in Malawi makes sense become a rare virtue in the political circles. Rain is good rain is currrency-paja mvula ikagwa kuchuluka zoliralira. I mean zoliralira ngati nyenje,frogs etc

I have just taken wholesale what this lad sent me. I ntend to expand on all the areas he has introduced.

Shoes

I have a simple measure for a country's economic prosperity check the number of good shoes per 1000 individuals. Good shoes vary from the genuine leather ones to
barefeet. Its a crude measure but it has always worked for me. Ofcourse you need to put it into context, if you are at a beach or watching an Army parade then it does not really work.

I have been to London and the population there is all 'shoed' but I have to say on average they wear the worst shoes in the world but nonetheless they are shoes. The one thing I cant stand is a bank manager with worn-out shoes!! I wonder what message they trying to send...look at me I am taking care of your money and I cant afford a decent shoe (brilliant). But having said that though not affordable to almost the whole population I have seen more decent shoes in Africa than here, but you can afford them here, where people wear their shoes for a purpose in Africa shoes are like an accessory(make a fashion statement). I am referring to the average Joe here and not celebrities. Italians and Nigerians are in a league of their own when it comes to shoes. The best shoes I guess are Italian. What is it with Italians and beautiful things? Remember the Ferrari

People talk about the wheel as the gratest invention I talk about the sandal made from the greatest invention as the greatest invention(does this make sence).

Tell you what a girl can easily dump you (where I come from) just because you are wearing brown shoes. Q. Why did you not go out with him? A. The silly boy was wearing brown shoes, they give me headaches

Shoes can make or break you (especially smelly ones). Shoes are such a serious thing in Malawi they can win you a presidential election if you told people you will hand them out free, just make sure you dont ask their sizes...it gives you an exit plan to the promise.

I sign-off with a shoe proverb; 'You dont promise a lepper shoes'