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‘A culture of thievery has been institutionalised in Malawi’

The office of the Ombudsman released a report a few weeks ago that lays bare the rot in the management of the K17 billion meant to finance the Covid-19 response plan at the peak of the pandemic in February 2021. Our Staff Writer JOANA CHAGUNDA caught up with the National Alliance Against Corruption chairperson Moses Mkandawire to weigh in on the state of corruption in Malawi.

Mkandawire: People ought to take responsibility

Q What is your take on the new report?

A Firstly, is to appreciate and thank the office of the Ombudsman for releasing it. Despite that the prevalence of Covid-19 relief fraud has been known for the past two years or so, the enormous scope and its disturbing implications are only clear in this kind of a report. This confirms that there is a lot happening in our civil service. It means we are much more geared towards allowances as opposed to the key issue of delivering quality service to the people. The report tells us that the systems are rotten, and broken too, and they are not benefitting the common person. The country’s elite and those politically-exposed or connected individuals are the ones mostly benefiting through access to irregular allowances, deliberate delays in payment of goods and services procured, wasteful expenditures, improper accounting and procedural procurement systems that they create. This is sad. However, this calls for major public reforms which, unfortunately, have been terribly difficult to implement for reasons known to those who are in the corridors of power.

Q Some civil servants were arrested for mismanaging Covid-19 funds, but so far, no one has been prosecuted. Would you know why?

A We have a slow process of investigating and prosecuting suspects in cases of abuse of public resources. Reports indicate that over 60 or so were indeed arrested last year, but few, if not all, were not prosecuted. There are a number of reasons for that. Firstly, we have not invested much in institutions of law enforcement. I think the country has few professional prosecutors. And yet we all know that prosecutors are the entry points into the criminal justice system given that they decide whether a case that began with an arrest could be prosecuted and what charges could be brought against the suspects. They have substantial influence over how a case progresses from a particular standpoint. Therefore, investment in prosecutors would have a huge impact in generating positive and speedy results, and thereby enhancing public trust and confidence in such institutions. Of course, litigation is the only strategy in addressing the criminal elements of this nature. As it is currently obtaining, the situation is not encouraging as it is failing to provide the much-needed deterrence. This tells us that corruption and fraud is here to stay.

Q Could this be politically-motivated?

A Not necessarily. Much as there is a close correlation between politics, outbreak and the effects of Covid-19 pandemic given the tensions that are exacerbated between and among the various political institutions, but I do not think this is the case. The only challenge, however, is that a ‘culture of thievery’ has become so institutionalised. There is no sector that has been spared. Corruption has not seen the face, tribe, creed, gender locality or age of an individual. It’s extremely unfortunate that nobody seems to care that the Covid-19 resources are coming from the vulnerable individuals and small business, among others, who toil to pay their taxes to support such response mechanisms. We have failed to protect the hardworking Malawians and the integrity of the lifelines that have been provided for by the National Assembly through our national budgets. It is unfortunate that the full extent of the law has not been used to curb such criminal activities.

Q How do you rate Tonse Alliance administration’s fight against corruption?

A It’s a 50-50 kind of situation. We all recall that the Tonse Alliance was preferably voted into office on the platform of stamping out corruption. The [Bakili] Muluzi case, Sam Mpasu case, the 2012 Cashgate, the Maizegate, Escomgate, among other cases, are a few examples of cases that happened before the current administration. Some of these cases made ordinary Malawians become terribly angry and eventually ejected the Democratic Progressive Party out of power. The coming in of the Tonse Alliance was in the anticipation that they will restore order by preventing all those who suddenly became rich and enjoyed the swanky vacations, built luxury mansions and bought cars because of theft of taxpayers’ money meant for development as well as Covid-19 response mechanisms. We are, however, wondering that the systems and practices have not changed as anticipated. The civil service is still intact. Some of these civil servants are not concerned with the shifting on the school calendars, including the mode of learning for our children, the lockdowns that came with the advent of Covid-19 and that both the people of Malawi and the key institutions of government have been tested to the core. We, therefore, need radical changes to turn things around.

Q How will this Covidgate affect the already staggering Ministry of Health?

A It’s not just the Ministry of Health that has been negatively impacted. It’s the whole government machinery. The ‘culture of allowances’ is killing this nation. In this case, a lot more people who could have otherwise accessed essential health services, be it in terms of information, drugs and general quality treatment, were not. Some Covid-19-related deaths could have been avoided had the resources been used for the intended purpose. A lot more health personnel could have been engaged or more health facilities could have been provided, particularly in rural areas where access to such services remains a huge challenge. This, unfortunately, will continue to be the situation, and the greatest victim is the powerless and voiceless common person.

Q What should be done to bring to justice those who mismanaged public funds and, also, to bring the cases to their logical conclusions?

A It’s unfortunate that we keep on talking about the same issues over and over again. People ought to take responsibility. Any public officer who is alleged to have mismanaged public resources ought to be interdicted, investigated and prosecuted within reasonable time. Time is very critical in all this. We cannot take 10 years to conclude a particular case. That tells you we are in serious problems, no two ways about it. Someone somewhere is not working or they are sleeping on the job. The problem, indeed, is what has been stated above. But this is a time when we should invest and reform the Ministry of Justice, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, to ensure that each district has a representative to be dealing with such matters swiftly. Government ought to be vigilant in creating mechanisms that can detect and disrupt Covid-19 or any emergency-related fraud and theft schemes as well as continuously warning all those who would want to exploit national emergency to steal taxpayer-funded resources from vulnerable people. All other institutions and individuals should play their rightful roles in fighting the vice.

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