2023: Another troubled year for ACB

New years are associated with new things; new resolutions and plans.  But 2023 was never to be about the fight against corruption as government operatives repeated the regrettable and condemned 2022 script in which the ACB director general Martha Chizuma was a victim.

On January 31 2023, Chizuma was interdicted in another move that was publicly viewed as corruption fighting anti -corruption efforts. What a way to start the year?

An interdiction order dated January 31 2023 signed by Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba said Chizuma was suspended in line with the Malawi Public Service Regulations 42(3) as read with Regulation 42 following criminal defamation charges she was facing in court.

This was part of a series of similar tactics in 2022 that had saw the ACB director arrested by police in a brutal fashion which attracted condemnation from wide and far.  All these were seen as tactics to frustrate Chizuma from doing her work, especially after effecting high- profile arrests in relation to businessperson Zunneth Sattar who is alleged to have bribed several public and private officials to influence the award of contracts to his firms.

University of Malawi professor of law Garton Kamchedzera said the SPC’s action was an “act of desperate, brazen impunity by corrupt networks fighting not only the ACB director, but the whole idea that this country can fight the rot of corruption”.

Ideally, the government machinery should have drawn lessons from the previous year on how similar attacks on the ACB director had attracted resentment. The interdiction, which was later withdrawn, sent a cryptic message about the current administration’s political will to fight corruption.

Whether the arrest had the blessing of President Lazarus Chakwera or not, it reflected on his leadership negatively considering that he has publicly declared support for an independent ACB.

Former Legal Affairs Committee chairperson Peter Dimba, who is also Malawi Congress Party parliamentarian for Lilongwe South, was shocked with how Chizuma seemed a target.

He said: “We are shocked that our administration seems so determined to push the Malawi nation over the cliff. This whole drama sounds surreal, considering the kind of leadership we have, and as the Bible says, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’.

Dimba demonstrated real courage and passion for the fight against corruption, otherwise it is not a common practice in Malawi politics for a parliamentarian from the government side to criticise their own administration.

Two days later, Dimba resigned as chairperson of the committee, which pushed for an amendment of the Corrupt Practices Act (CPA) to remove a provision that required the ACB to seek consent from the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute offences under the CPA.

ACB silenced?

Did manoeuvres on Chizuma silence the ACB? May be, as 2023 has been a quiet year for the ACB compared to 2022 when the bureau fast-tracked arrests of high-profile officials in relation to Sattar corruption related cases.

Among the big names arrested were Vice-President Saulos Chilima, former solicitor general Reyneck Matemba, who is Chizuma’s predecessor, former Inspector general of police George Kainja and former board chairperson for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) John Suzi, among notable names. Chilima was arrested in November 2022 and his trial is ongoing.

ACB created the hype that more arrests would follow in 2023 after submitting a report to President Chakwera in which 84 public and private individuals were named as suspects. However, as we drew curtains on 2023 yesterday, not more than 10 individuals have been arrested out of the listed 84.

The bureau has, so far, has been elusive as to why it is yet to effect the other arrests. Although the ACB must be allowed to operate independently, it cannot be immune from accountability.

The jubilee year

The negative energy aside, the celebration that marked ACB’s 25 years anniversary was quite successful.

The participation, from wide and far, demonstrated greater willingness from the public to join hands with the ACB in the fight against corruption.

The Anti-Corruption Symposium in Lilongwe, which brought around the table heads of anti-corruption agencies from 10 different countries, was an important forum for sharing of ideas that must be put into use in strengthening the fight against the vice.

Experts believe promises about launching a Lifestyle Audit Manual and that the law will be amended to equally target private individuals on lifestyle audit must be fulfilled this year—“more importantly the leadership must allow ACB to operate without influence if the anticorruption crusade is to have real meaning in Malawi,” they said.

Human Rights Defenders Coalition chairperson Gift Trapence further calls for increased investment in the fight against corruption.

 “Most of the corruption cases come from procurement and we know the sectors that have huge procurements. To those we need to seal all loopholes. We also need more legal reform especially on protection of whistleblowers to make sure that people can freely report corruption without fear or favour,” he said.