For the first time since the assets law came into force in 2013, the Office of the Director of Public Officers Declaration has named and shamed about 1788 public officers for non-compliance during the 2022/23 financial year.
The office says before the September 16 2025 General Election it will also publish in the Malawi Government Gazette Supplement names and status of declarations by public officers in the 2023/24 financial year.
In an interview yesterday, the office’s director Michael Chiusiwa said the publication will go a long way in fostering accountability and transparency in the public service, fighting corruption and fraud and ultimately promoting public confidence in the public service.
He said: “We are doing the process in bits because it is costly. We spent around K26 million for this, thanks to the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP]. We are preparing for the 2023/24 fiscal year, to be published before September.
“Now that we have the gazette, we are now moving to write them [the officers] and ask for reasons for non-submission. As a director, I have the legal mandate to dictate the period for responses, and thereafter write to relevant authorities for action.”
Section 11(i) of the declarations law of 2013 requires the director to enforce listed public officers’ compliance by referring non-compliance to relevant employment authorities with recommendations for appropriate sanctions.
However, accountability and governance advocates, while welcoming the naming and shaming, have expressed fear that the exercise will remain fruitless and a mere routine if errant officers or those who are not truthful in their declarations are not punished as required by law.
In an interview yesterday, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira said there was need to move beyond the naming and shaming to punishing errant listed public officers.
He said: “We must also decisively deal with public officers who under-declare their assets. We have noted that in the past few years politicians tend to under-declare their assets. This is against the aspiration of the asset declaration law.
“Unfortunately, the directorate has no teeth to bite, and this leads to a lot of rent-seeking behaviour among public officers. This is breeding corruption.”
Commenting on the absence of actual declarations in the published notice, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation executive director Michael Kaiyatsa said genuine transparency requires disclosures that allow for public scrutiny.
“The law should introduce legal consequences that are mandatory and automatic, such as immediate suspension and fines for noncompliance,” he said.
Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament chairperson Grant Ndecha said they have already invited five institutions, including the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to explain why their officers did not declare their assets last year.
He said: “During this first quarter of 2025/26 fiscal year, we will invite all institutions, including police which had many officers that did not declare assets. After that, we will make recommendations.
“All we want is for the law to take its course. From now onwards, we will be ensuring that because we can’t be a country that comes up with laws, but fails to implement them.”
Under the law, a listed public officer who, without reasonable cause, fails to submit the required declaration within the time determined shall, subject to the Constitution and any other written law, be liable to be dismissed from the public office.
