‘Fed up’ investor decries corruption
Fed up with demands for bribes from public officers to facilitate processing of paperwork, a Germany investor planned to move out, but has since pended the decision awaiting corrective measures.
Landt Foundation chief executive officer Aaron Landt, speaking in an interview after an audience with Vice-President Michael Usi at Mudi State Residence in Blantyre yesterday, said they planned to pull-out all their planned development projects in education, health, science and research and leave the country due to corruption.
He said they have pended the decision after Usi assured them that the concerns will be addressed.
Landt claimed that unnamed Blantyre City Council officials demanded bribes to swiftly process their paper work for a charity project. He also said at one point, some city council officials demanded a two-day daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for a two-hour project meeting within Blantyre.
“Some government officials make unnecessary delays that make our work a lot harder,” he said.
Landt said initial meetings with them were “always amazing and we felt like everything was so easy and there was no elephant in the room” but things later changed when officials started demanding money that could not be justified.
In a separate interview, Usi expressed disappointment with the developments and acknowledged that there is rampant corruption in the country which is suffocating the development of the nation.
He assured Landt, who was accompanied by the foundation’s assistant manager and quality controller Julian Balko, that he will follow up the matter and deal with errant public officers.
Said Usi: “Based on the reports that we are receiving through newspapers and one on one meetings like these, then you know that corruption is one of the very big issue that is suffocating Malawi’s development.”
The Vice-President’s acknowledgement comes at a time Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) data shows that Malawi’s fight against corruption has weakened in the 10 years dating back to 2012.
Commenting on the matter, a developmental scholar and governance analyst at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences Andrew Kaponya observed that corruption is taking away the country’s dignity.
He said the people frustrated with corruption are well-wishers who come with donations meant to uplift living standards.
Said Kaponya: “Our promise to end corruption in this country is almost becoming lip service with no action on the ground. Everyone who is involved, directly or indirectly must realise that doing so is equal to killing.”
In August last year, President Lazarus Chakwera condemned some public officers who ‘milked’ entrepreneur and philanthropist Napoleon Dzombe of K500 million, forcing him to abandon a multi-billion kwacha international bus terminal project in Lilongwe.
