ACB thrust intolooting scandal

As some civil servants were making hay while the sun shone and plundered billions of taxpayers’ money, the bulldog mandated to bite fraudsters was in deep slumber, raising questions about its role in the cash-gate scandal.

This is the verdict of some analysts on the role of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in abetting the looting of government resources that has left Malawians and donors in shock.

While media reports indicate that the abuse of the government payment system IFMIS began way back in 2006, ACB only began barking and arresting suspects in September 2013.

The Corrupt Practices Act empowers ACB to investigate any dubious investments and probe people who live beyond their known means of earning income. At the time ACB was kicking into gear, at least K110 billion (US$297 297 297) was gone from public coffers.

So why did it take ACB so long to pounce on suspects?

Chancellor College law expert Dr Edge Kanyongolo said the lack of action by ACB in stemming the plunder raises serious questions about its credibility, independence and integrity.

“It is a redundant institution. Therefore, this time, let it be a litmus test on the independence of the institution,” said Kanyongolo.

Chief executive officer of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) Chancellor Kaferapanjira was equally scathing about the role of ACB in fighting graft and looting of public resources.

Kaferapanjira criticised politicians who he said weaken the institution by interfering with its work.

“ACB is powerless in a country like ours where its leadership is appointed by a president with absolute powers.  A lot of time, power is dependent on one person whom people bow down to for positions. Laws and the Constitution end up being abused.

“The other problem is where people give absolute power to a political party. This should serve as a lesson to us,” he said.

National secretary of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Chris Chisoni said ACB has contributed to the problem by default because of its limited personnel and weak resource base.

“But remember this is only at mitigation level. Corruption needs both proactive and intrusive approaches that don’t exist in Malawi currently. More or less, we have an enabling environment for fraud in public institutions resulting from weak institutional frameworks, weak spirit of patriotism among public officials and the emerging get-rich quick syndrome among the current crop of Malawian citizens.

“If government and cooperating partners cannot financially support ACB to build up its human resource base and to effectively mount numerous interventions dealing with fraud in a proactive and intrusive manner, very few strides in dealing with graft will be attained. This current scenario, therefore, is not surprising,” said Chisoni.

But ACB director Rezine Mzikamanda said it is unfair for people to accuse the body of doing little to fight corruption in the country.

“This is not the time for self-appraisals or defences. Our efforts are concentrated on working and doing a good job. We have talked about challenges in the past that include resource and various constraints.

“That withstanding, we shall continue to work and investigate. It is most unfair to the ACB and the nation as a whole for people to claim we are redundant,” he said.

So far, ACB has arrested several civil servants on suspicion that they defrauded government of billions of kwacha.

The latest suspect to fall into the dragnet is principal secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Tressa Senzani.

But Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokesperson Dr Jessie Kabwila said blaming ACB for not acting on the looting in time is misguided because the prevailing situation is not about corruption but theft.

“We need to emphasise that looting is not corruption. We need to be careful by not asking them to look for something they are not responsible for.

“My opinion is that what we have is a system failure and structural inadequacies. Corruption is difficult to solve and it’s the methodology which effectively shields the big fish,” said Kabwila.