Cleric decries spanners in fight against corruption

Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of the Archdiocese of Blantyre of the Catholic Church has expressed reservations over the manner the country is fighting corruption, saying there are spanners being thrown in the works.

Speaking in an interview on Friday in Blantyre on the sidelines of a Catholic Development Commission (Cadecom) function he presided over, he said lack of coordination between prosecution agencies, people amassing wealth for themselves and nepotism are among the factors frustrating the anti-graft fight.

Msusa said it was surprising that all senior government officials feigned ignorance of the December 6 2022 arrest of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma as indicated in a commission of inquiry report released on Wednesday evening.

He said: “I see that we are going even backwards, the way we are really doing things in the fight against corruption. Teamwork is not there. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have this commission of inquiry for those who planned about the arrest of the ACB director.

“So, let us work together, there is still space. We can really repent. We can change our way of living. We need to change our mentality.”

Msusa observed that if the country is to win the corruption fight, Malawians must be adhering to the rule of law and not take what does not belong to them.

His frustrations come about three weeks after Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga Diocese attributed the entrenchment of corruption on “moral decay, greed and selfishness with no value for Godly principles and human kind”.

In his speech during last year’s International Anti-Corruption Day, President Lazarus Chakwera said there was nothing romantic about the fight against corruption as it was not just a fight to clean up governance institutions, recover stolen resources, fight for justice or a better Malawi, but a fight for people’s very lives.

Describing Chizuma as “my anti-corruption champion”, the President said the fight against corruption was costly and dangerous and “those who have corrupted our system will not go quietly”.

“They will not lay down their weapons and simply surrender. They will not come here to this event and shake hands to make peace. They are against everything we stand for. They are determined to stop our efforts. They have vowed to use every means to make sure their dark empire survives, including violence and murder,” he lamented while encouraging Chizuma, who had three days earlier been arrested, to continue fighting corrupt individuals.

In its Pastoral Statement on October 10 2022, titled ‘A call to hearken to the cry of poor Malawians’, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi expressed concern that the way the fight against corruption is being waged is posing more questions than answers.

Police arrested Chizuma on December 6 2022 following a complaint lodged by now suspended Director of Public Prosecutions Steven Kayuni in his personal capacity. The DPP alleged he was injured by allegations made by Chizuma in a leaked audio clip in January this year, a development that compelled Chakwera to appoint the commission of inquiry.

The commission presented its final report to Chakwera last Tuesday at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where the President directed Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba to make public the report.