Expert urges clarity on corruption surveys

Political scientist Henry Chingaipe has asked Afrobarometer researchers to explain the drivers of corruption perceptions to enable Malawians have a better understanding of the findings.

Chingaipe, whose area of expertise is governance and development, public policy analysis as well as political economy of development, said in a response to a questionnaire that the findings that corruption had increased resonated with current dominant narrative in the country.

He said: “So, the perception was reinforced, but additionally we also have to make observations on whether the perceptions are driven by the frequency of revelations of corruption cases or the increase is associated with increasing amounts of money involved.

“Afrobarometer does not ask these questions, but answering them would help to pinpoint measures to be taken.”

Chingaipe, who was one of the panellists at the launch of the Afrobarometer survey findings in Lilongwe last week, said Malawians must know that Afrobarometer only gives data.

“That was why in my submission I called on participants and others to find out or do analyses that would show the drivers of the perception that corruption had increased,” he said.

But Joseph Chunga, head of University of Malawi’s Centre for Social Research which coordinates with the pan-African non-partisan survey research network that provides data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance and quality of life, said in an interview yesterday that Afrobarometer asks all the questions and all answers can be found in the report’s current form.

He said: “We do have questions that are specifically about experiences people face on corruption or bribes, real experiences.

“We ask participants what they faced when dealing with police or other institutions. And these questions deal with drivers of perception.”

Two thirds of Malawians, according to the recent Afrobarometer survey, perceive corruption levels to have increased in the past year and find government’s commitment to fight the vice wanting.

Presenting the findings in Lilongwe on behalf of Afrobarometer, Chunga said 66 percent of Malawians hold the view that corruption has worsened under the Tonse Alliance administration compared to the period its predecessor Democratic Progressive Party was in charge.

According to the Afrobarometer team, a nationally representative sample of 1 200 adult Malawians was interviewed in February 2022.