Assets office wants defaulters punished
The Office of the Director of Public Officers’ Declarations says it has recommended sanctions for some public officers who do not declare their assets to enhance compliance.
The office said it has no prosecutorial roles or powers, as such, its role stops at recommendations.
In a written response to a questionnaire, the office’s public relations officer Tiyamike Phiri said although all declarations are eligible for verification, they only sample a number of listed public officers (LPOs) for verification per financial year.
She said: “Generally, most listed public officers submit their declarations and compliance rate is currently at 77 percent. We assess all the declarations that we receive each year.
“The law mandates us to do so during the time of collection and even after the collection period to ensure that we have quality declarations with all the necessary information.
“However, as a directorate we would love to verify every listed public officer that declares, but due to limited resources and shortage of staff we do programmatic one, on the one hand, and sample to verify few LPOs, on the other hand. We need not less than 40 people. Currently, we have 19 employees.”
Meanwhile, governance experts have said there is a lot that the office needs to do to efficiently fulfil its mandate of promoting public confidence in the public service and offices of elected officials.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Michael Kaiyatsa said the assets office’s challenges ranging from low funding, human resources and its legal framework has made it difficult for the office to operate efficiently.
Boniface Dulani, a governance expert from the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Malawi, said public officers only submit as a matter of routine unless the office has the capacity to verify all the submissions.
He said 16 000 submissions were a lot for the office to handle hence it is only proper to randomly select submissions.
Speaking in Parliament on February 28, President Lazarus Chakwera said his administration is strengthening prevention of corruption by strengthening the capacity of the office.
The sentiments come against fresh calls for public servants to submit their annual declarations from April 1 to April 30 and that those officers who fail to submit the required declaration should be liable to dismissal.
Currently, declarations already underway cover the period between April 2022 and March 31 2023.
