We presentatives of the academia have dared Malawi to revisit some of its policies to analyse and assess why they have not delivered intended goals over the years.

University of Oslo professor of political science Dan Banik said in an interview on Monday that such a review would clear perceptions that Malawi is good at formulating policies but is bad at implementing them.

He was speaking in an interview with The Nation on the sidelines of a sustainable governance seminar on climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience held in Blantyre.

The seminar was organised by University of Malawi (Unima) in partnership with University of Oslo in Norway and University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

Banik: Many plans formulated are ignored

Banik said: “Many plans are formulated but they are either ignored or bypassed and very little impact can be measured.

“So, the question we really need to ask is, was there something wrong or was it formulated in another context not applicable for Malawi?”

He further said if the various policies, especially those that failed are revisited, there would be accurate analysis of whether they did not deliver due to absence of political will, money challenges or capacity issues.

Unima vice-chancellor Professor Samson Sajidu said in a separate interview that it is important for the academia to conduct research that would inform policy direction.

“Within research we should actually be informing policies. So, it is crucial for us that we should do research that informs policy as academia,” he said.

Sajidu said as academia, they are at an advantage to conduct research due to diverse programmes at respective universities.

The seminar mainly discussed why measures put in place to avert effects of climate change fail and what needs to be done.

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