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Systems, procedures for rooting out corruption P8 Corruption, bribery: Are they different? P8
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by Michael Chasukwa, Chancellor College political science lecturer
n a routine fashion, Malawi joins the world every year to commemorate AntiCorruption Day. Once again, the day has come for Malawi to fulfil her rituals of commemorating with the whole world the effort undertaken to curb corruption. Today, top government officials have gathered at Bingu International Conference Centre to perform these annual rituals and we can easily predict what they will be saying; some comforting and sweet speeches for Malawians. Definitely, what they will be saying will be contrary to what the empirical data is showing. Based on different indexes to do with corruption, the picture is gloomy for Malawi. The latest results by the World Transparency Internationals Corruption Index indicate that Malawi is on 91 out of 177 countries with the indexs score of 37. This implies that Malawi is one of the corrupt countries. Last year, Malawi was on position 88 out of 177 countries. Since the dawn of multiparty democracy, each regime has had its own tales of corruption. Irin News summarise it all: The first president elected in multiparty polls in 1994, Bakili Muluzi, is currently answering
A classroom at Kankhoka Primary School in Rumphi: Corruption diverts funds from national development to personal interests
More often, anti-corruption errands are carried out so as to be politically correct. With the donors demanding accountability within the framework of good governance, almost all regimes since 1994 have successfully pretended to have anti-corruption drive at their heart to be in good books with the donor community. In this regard, pronouncements on anticorruption have been made as a means of accessing resources from the benevolent donors. Just like most developing countries, our regimes have learnt how to be a darling of the international community by way of being cosmetic. Anti-corruption strategies in Malawi have also had disappointing results because of the way it is operationalised. Pursuance of corruption cases in the court of law has appeared to be selective and witch-hunting. This has demotivated whistleblowers to report incidents of corruption because they are not sure if their effort will pay dividends. Further to this, where the whistle-blower is not well protected against the big fish, incentives to report corruption cases and testify in the court of law against the alleged offenders have dwindled. To this effect, anti-corruption campaign has translated into a political tool used by all regimes to get cooperation of the suspected offenders. Events around cashgate scandal may bear witness to this. To gain political mileage at the local and international level, the Bingu wa Mutharika regime moved so quickly to announce its seriousness in tackling corruption by vigorously pursuing the case of Yusuf Mwawa. Despite being commended for operating on matters of principle, others have argued that the money involved was too little to go out in town to make such loud noise. Another hiccup frustrating the anti-corruption campaign are institutions that have been entrusted with the mandate of handling corruption issues. In this regard, anti-corruption institutions are largely handicapped, hence they are having difficulties in executing their mandate. The key institution in the fight against corruption is the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) that was established in 1997. The functions of ACB include investigation as well as prosecution of corruption matters. But since inception, PAGE 8
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The following are institutions that are playing a critical role in fighting against corr uption in Malawi:
1. Lilongwe Water Board 2. Malawi Police 3. Congoma 4. Anti-Corruption Bureau
Malawi loses 30 percent of its resources to corruption The latest results by the World Transparency Internationals Corr uption Index indicate that Malawi is on 91 out of 177 countries with the indexs score of 37. There were also high levels of bribery in Poland (15 percent), Slovakia (14 percent) and Hungary (13 percent) where the most prevalent instances were in healthcare.
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foundations of society are no longer respected, immoral acts and looting are on the rise, corruption become rampant. In fact, some people think they are above the law and cannot be prosecuted even after looting public resources, he said. Kubalasa said institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) are weak to effectively fight corruption due to lack of resources. He expressed the need to have a robust legal framework for ensuring that corrupt practices are
prevented and prosecuted effectively. The Malawi National Integrity Assessment Report for 2013 noted that the majority of cases, especially involving high profile figures, were either delayed to be concluded or they were not concluded at all. A good example is a case of the former head of State [Bakili Muluzi] that has been in the courts for over five years now. The delays appear to be caused partly by lack of provisions requiring conclusion of cases within a set time line. This has
resulted in drawn-out trials some of which do not seem to be headed for any logical conclusion, reads the report. It also notes lack of a proper system to record corruption cases. The Judiciary does not have separate statistics for corruption cases for the public although it is trying to record such statistics for its internal usage. The broader contribution of the Judiciary to anti-corruption reforms is rather indirect. So far the main channel has been through involvement in seminars/training
workshops where they may air the suggestions on desirable reforms, reads the read. Kubalasa admits that fighting corruption is not an easy task. Corruption is a very complicated phenomenon. Of course, it can be said that there is no country in the world that has been able to completely deal with corruption. Even from the perspective of Transparency International tools for measuring corruption and anti-corruption efforts, even the best performing economies still have some
degree of corruption, he says. Kubalasa said corruption retards development and keeps people in poverty. Corruption negatively affects everyone, including people who perpetrate it. It diverts resources meant for national development for personal benefits. This is why we all need to join hands to uproot corruption, he said. In Malawi, the responsibility to persecute corruption cases is vested in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) which is expected to operate independently.