Artists look to Parliament for enactment of Nahec Bill
National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec) Draft Bill Taskforce Wednesday met with chairpersons of the legal and community and social welfare committees and Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda as part of following up on the enactment of the bill.
Artists have for a long time lamented lack of support from the government and are lobbying for the enactment of Nahec Draft Bill, which will lead to the creation of Nahec.
This is not the first time the Nahec Taskforce has been meeting legislators at Parliament in their pursuit for the enactment of Nahec Bill.
Nahec Draft Bill Chairperson Maxwell Chiphinga, also known as Max DC, described the meeting as fruitful.
“We met the chairpersons of the committee and our line minister, who admitted that the draft bill is dragging but, because of his passion for the arts and cultural industries to be fully functional, he has already moved the draft bill as far as Cabinet committee and it has passed and it is only waiting for a full Cabinet,” Chiphinga said.
He further said that the minister assured them of his desire to have the Nahec Draft Bill tabled in Parliament during the July or September meeting.
“As a taskforce, we are grateful for the progress so far made by the minister within the short period that he has been in office and we also appreciate government’s support,” Chiphinga said.
Malawi Union of Academic and Non-fiction Authors (Muana) President Ron Muphuwa, who is also a member of Nahec Draft Bill taskforce, also said he was happy with the minister’s commitment to making sure that the draft bill is brought to Parliament for tabling before the end of this year.
Efforts to talk to Chimwendo Banda and chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Affairs proved futile Wednesday.
But the committee’s chairperson Savel Kafwafwa said recently that they were determined to turn the draft bill into law and acknowledged that Nahec Draft Bill is long overdue.
“This is a mother council which will be a parasol and, so, all stakeholders and councils attached need to be in,” he said.
Other members of Nahec taskforce, who were present during the meeting, included Thom Chibambo, Eric Trinta, Vita Chirwa and James Kitchen.
