Development of Policy, Legal, and Insitutional Framework for - ppiaf

Development of Policy, Legal, & Institutional Framework for the PPP Program in Malawi
Final Report
Industry, Trade, and Private Sector Development, but one or more other ministries might be
interested in sponsoring the Paper, such as the Ministry of Economic Planning & Development.
VI.E. Enact and Publish an Official National PPP Policy
The official National Policy is the signal to all stakeholders that Government is committed to
PPP as a development paradigm. The National PPP Policy should be provided in the format
used for other official policy statements, such as the ones for transport and water, and the one
being prepared for PPP in the health sector. In this report, we have provided the full text of
such an official policy statement. Once the policy is agreed by Government, it should be vetted
in a stakeholder consensus building workshop, and all stakeholders in the PPP program should
be invited to attend, including those from the private sector.
The transport sector national policy recently went through a similar process, and the comments
received from stakeholders were very useful to the process of finalizing the policy. Such will be
the case with the National PPP Policy as well, because stakeholder inputs are highly useful in
ensuring that the policy can be implemented in a practical and effective manner, achieving the
results for which the policy was formulated. After the PPP Policy is enacted and published, it
will be necessary to conduct stakeholder awareness activities.
VI.F. Conduct Stakeholder Consultation on PPP Policy
Although the first round of stakeholder consultation is done while Government is finalizing the
Policy, after the Policy is enacted and published it is essential to hold a series of Stakeholder
Consultation events to inform stakeholders of the new Policy, to explain how the PPP Program
works, to highlight the benefits of the Program, and to clarify what the Policy means in terms of
the rights and obligations of stakeholders. Because PPP is a new way of doing business for the
Government, it will be essential to provide detailed guidance to civil servants on how they are
required to adjust and/or undertake activities involving contracting with the private sector.
PPP Information Dissemination is something that must be done concurrently with the rollout of
the National PPP Program. The PC can do this, as an interim measure, and the entity taking the
lead can be the PC’s Public Relations and Information, Education and Communications
Officer/Department. The process should initially be focused on dispelling any misconceptions
stakeholders might have about PPP. For privatization, this meant explaining why privatization
was not “giving away the crown jewels” or “laying off poor workers generate profits for rich
investors” or “giving away control of vital national assets to foreigners.” For PPP, this will
mean explaining why PPP is not privatization, why PPP is not just another procurement
mechanism, why PPP creates new jobs, how PPP will accelerate the development of
infrastructure, and how PPP benefits consumers.
VI.G. Finalize and Enact PPP Regulations
Although the Public Finance Management Act specifically authorizes the Minister responsible
for Finance to issue Regulations pursuant to the Act, as a practical matter ministers usually seek
consensus in Cabinet and Parliament before issuing such regulations. So there is a political
THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS 72