Corruption milk govt 30% of resources
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a day-long Anti-Corruption Civil Society Platform meeting at Lilongwe Hotel recently, Mejn executive director Dalitso Kubalasa said Malawi needs to seriously tackle corruption to join the list of least corrupt countries of the world. .
The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index for 2011 ranks the country on position 100, 15 positions from 85 in 2010.
“What this index shows is that we are failing to deal with corruption and this vice is rampant in our society,” said Kubalasa.
According to a draft paper Kubalasa presented, the 30 percent loss is large proportion of the total development support that Malawi receives from cooperating partners.
“The task of combating corruption requires the involvement of all sectors of society of the country,” he said.
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) chief corruption prevention and public education officer Mary Phombeya concurred with Kubalasa, saying more needs to be done to win the anti-corruption fight.
“Each organisation and individual has a role to play and that is why ACB has intensified civic education campaigns so that many people are aware of the dangers of the vice,” she said.
She also agreed with the TI Perception Index which ranks Malawi on position 100 on least countries.
“I might say that Malawi is on position 100 because many countries are now being assessed by Transparency International. Another reason could be that this time around, even governance issues were taken into account; hence, our fall to position 100,” said Phombeya.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jones Chingola said corruption remains one of the vices that can derail development faster than anything.
“As Parliament, we are doing our best and we will always work with the ACB to make sure that MPs work closely with the bureau through the National Integrity Committee which was formed in 2010,” said Chingola.
The meeting was attended by chiefs, civil society leaders, government officials and media practitioners.
