Social security and poverty alleviation in Malawi : towards the recognition of umunthu as a constitutional principle

• DOI: 10.10520/EJC139807
• Date: 01 January 2012
• Author: Ngeyi Ruth Kanyongolo
• Pages: 163-182
• Published date: 01 January 2012

SOCIAL SECURITY AND POVERTY

ALLEVIATION IN MALAWI: TOWARDS THE

RECOGNITION OF UMUNTHU AS A

CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE

Ngeyi Ruth Kanyongolo*

ABSTRACT

Pov erty is deep, wide spread and se vere in Ma lawi. 65.3 per cent of the pop u -

la tion is poor, rep re sent ing 6.3 mil lion peo ple with 28.2 per cent liv ing in

dire pov erty and women c on sti tut ing 52 per cent of the poo r. In this con text,

the im por tance of so cial se cu rity can not be over em pha sised. For most poor

peo ple, their sur vival de pends on a mix ture of plu ral so cial se cu rity sys tems

which pro vide vary ing de grees of ac cess. Within this con text, the rec og ni tion

of so cial se cu rity as a right and the avail abil ity of le gal mech a nisms for

claim ing such a right have formed an es sen tial part of pov erty al le vi a tion

mea sures. How ever, much as hu man rights prin ci ples have proven crit i cal

and con trib uted to in creased ac cess to so cial se cu rity for the poor, this ar ti cle

ar gues that, in the con text of Ma lawi, there is a need to go be yond the hu -

man rights ap proach to so cial se cu rity to em brac ing ‘umunthu’ as a

foun da tional prin ci ple. An anal y sis of poor peo ple’s lived re al i ties and ar tic -

u la tions of sur vival mech a nisms shows that ‘umunthu’ is an im por tant

lo cal value which coul d con trib ute to and fa cil i tate the em pow er ment of the

poor in ac cess ing so cial se cu rity and there fore al le vi at ing pov erty, and prob -

a bly needs to be for mally and ex plic itly re cog nised not only as a core value in

pov erty al le vi a tion ef forts but, more im por tantly, also as a con sti tu tional

prin ci ple.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN MALAWI 163

PhD (Warwick), LLM (Lon don), LLB (Hons) (Mw), Lec turer, Co or di na tor of the Chan cel lor

Col lege Le gal Clinic, Fac ulty of Law, Uni ver sity of Ma lawi.

*

IINTRODUCTION

In 1999, 65.3 per cent of the Ma lawi pop u la tion was rated poor, rep re -

sent ing 6.3 mil lion peo ple with 28.2 per cent of these liv ing in dire pov erty.1

By 2009, the pro por tion of the pop u la tion liv ing be low the pov erty line was

es ti mated at 39 per cent, a slight drop from 40 per cent in 2008.2 Since the

dawn of the new mil len nium, Ma lawi has been im ple ment ing pov erty re -

duc tion strat e gies through the Ma lawi Pov erty Re duc tion Strat egy 2002, the

Ma lawi Growth and De vel op ment Strat egy 2006–2010 and the newly de vel -

oped Ma lawi Growth and De vel op ment Strat egy II 2011–2016. Slight

prog ress on pov erty re duc tion has been achieved in re cent years, with the

pro por tion of the pop u la tion liv ing on less than US$ 1 per day de clin ing over

the years. De spite this achieve ment, pov erty lev els re main high and

wide spread.

In this con text, the im por tance of so cial se cu rity can not be over em pha -

sised. De bates on so cial se cu rity have in creased within the pov erty

al le vi a tion/re duc tion programmes.3 For the few peo ple who have the re -

sources, mea sures of sur viv ing or man ag ing com mon shocks and risks of lif e

in clude pri vate life and med i cal in sur ance, pen sion schemes and other in -

vest ments.4 How ever, in the con text of high lev els of pov erty ad versely

af fect ing in di vid ual ef forts to sur vive, for the ma jor ity there is a heavier re li -

ance on so cial net works than on ac cess to mar ket and state-based so cial

se cu rity sys tems. For such a ma jor ity, its sur vival of the risks and shocks of

life de pends on a mix ture of plu ral so cial se cu rity sys tems which pro vide

vary ing de grees of ac cess by men and women.5 Fur ther more, changes in de -

mog ra phy, the econ omy, pol i tics, law and ideo log i cal un der pin nings all

164 (2012) MLJ VOL.6, ISSUE 2

1The poor are of fi cially de fined as those whose con sump tion of ba sic needs is be low US$ .50 per

day. The peo ple them selves have de fined pov erty as a lack of felt needs at house hold and com mu -

nity lev els. See Gov ern ment of Ma lawi Qual i ta tive im pact mon i tor ing of pov erty al le vi a tion pol i cies

and programmes: Voices of the peo ple (World Bank, 1999).

2Ma lawi Gov ern ment Pop u la tion and Hous ing Cen sus 2008. This showed that Ma lawi has a to tal

pop u la tion of 13.08 mil lion.

3See, eg, Gov ern ment of Ma lawi ‘Ma lawi Pov erty Re duc tion Strat egy Pa per 2002’; Ma lawi So cial

Pro tec tion Pol icy 2010.

4For ex am ple, Old Mu tual, Na tional In sur ance Com pany (NICO), and Me d i cal Aid So ci ety of

Ma lawi (MASM) pro vide for pri vate health and life schemes.

5See Gerhard An ders ‘Free dom and in se cu rity: Civil ser vants be tween sup port net works, the free

mar ket and civil ser vice re form’ in Englund Harri (ed) A de moc racy of cha me leons: A pol i tics of

cul ture in t he new Ma lawi (Claim Mabuku, 2001) 43–61.