Norway frowns at graft fight flaws
The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Malawi says it shares similar concerns on shortfalls in the fight against corruption as outlined by other bilateral partners, notably United States of America, United Kingdom and European Union.
Royal Nor wegian Ambassador Ingrid Marie Mikel s en’s posi t ion means most of Malawi’s major donor partners are dissatisfied with the graft fight in the wake of the arrest, court summons and now interdiction of Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma.
Mikelsen, who is also head of diplomatic corps in Malawi, took to Twitter yesterday expressing support towards what other partners have said on events surrounding the Chizuma saga.
She said: “Norway concurs with Britain on very important messages on the fight against corruption in Malawi.”
Norway assists Malawi in areas of education, agriculture and food security, education, as well as health in the last two years contributing about $6 million (K6 billion) towards the health sector alone.
On Wednesday, EU Ambassador Rune Skinnebach said he is “hugely” concerned with the legal tussles between the State and Chizuma, warning, this has the potential to derail the graft fight.
“We have seen that the DG [director general] has been arrested then released, there have been other stories, and under such conditions it is difficult to function in absolute manner and therefore, it concerns us hugely as well,” he said.
US Ambassador David Young also expressed displeasure with how government is handling Chizuma.
In its statement, the US Embassy in Lilongwe said it was deeply concerned with the backsliding in the fight against corruption.
Read the statement: “The events of the past two months show that the Government of Malawi is actively fighting against its Anti-Corruption Bureau.
“We invested greatly in moving forward in our development cooperation and promoting good governance because we want to raise people out of poverty and improve health and education in this country.”
Commenting on the developments on Twitter, act ing Brit ish High Commissioner Sophia Willitts-King said the UK government’s partnership with Malawi is based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to democracy, the protection of human rights and the use of public funds in the interest of the people.
But in direct response to the US, Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu said in a firm statement on Wednesday, said government will engage the donors but not compromise Malawi’s sovereignty and independence of its institutions.
Chizuma is facing criminal defamation charges over a January 2022 viral audio in which she is overheard telling a third party details of an ongoing investigation and accused some public officers, including judges engaging in corruption.
