PRESS RELEASE

MALAWI SLIPS FURTHER ON GLOBAL CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS RANKING

The status of corruption in Malawi has continued to worsen in recent years. As a result
the country continues to suffer from various forms of corruption from high level
political corruption, patronage, nepotism

to petty bribery. For instance, the

Transparency Internationals (TIs) Corruption Perceptions Index of 2013 showed that

Malawi slipped from position 88 out of 177 countries in 2012 to position 91 (of 175
countries/territories) in 2013. The current 2014 TI Corruption Perception Index ranks
Malawi at position 110 of 175 countries and territories that have been assessed. It is
very clear from this trend that a lot needs to be done to improve our situation and hence
improve the economy and the overall standard of living for all Malawians, especially that
of the majority poor.
While the common temptation will be to attribute the current CPI ranking to the recent
looting of public money in government offices it should also be appreciated that
Malawis poor trend on the CPI is a result of many other factors beyond cash-gate.
After 20 years of multi-party democracy the obvious and fair expectation would be that
the country has adequate checks and balances to oversee good governance in its
structures and systems. Unfortunately, evidence is common about deteriorating ethics
and integrity in our governance structures and systems.
Malawi signed and ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in 2004
and 2007 respectively. The country launched the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in
2008, as a holistic approach to fighting corruption. In the past 20 years of Malawis

democracy institutions and pieces of legislation have been established to help oversee
good governance. These have included the establishment of institutions such as the
Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Malawi Human Rights Commission, the Office of the
Ombudsman, the Financial Intelligence Unit and pieces of legislation such as the Public
Finance Management Act, Public Audit Act and the Public Procurement Act. Despite
this demonstrated commitment, corruption has continued to manifest in various forms in
all sectors of the economy.
To date, as a result of a bad record on corruption which culminated to cash-gate
Malawis development partners have been withholding their aid towards budget support
and obviously this will affect governments functions negatively. Further, the business
environment also faces numerous challenges which include governments failure to pay
all arrears to business institutions for goods and services already provided. Prospects
for foreign direct investment have also been continually under threat.
While we take note of these negative developments, National Integrity Platform would
like to however recognize and commend the Malawi Government for the positive steps
that have recently been considered to strengthen the countrys public financial
management systems and image which include the following:

Reviewing the IFMIS with the aim of correcting loopholes and improving
effectiveness and efficiency

Pursuing investigations and prosecutions for cash-gate corruption suspects some

of which are reaching completion

Undertaking a process of reforms through the Public and/Civil Service Reform

Commission

Capacity building programs including Ethics trainings for Senior Managers

Increasing budgetary allocation to governance institutions such as the AntiCorruption Bureau

We are greatly assured that with a positive political will the present efforts will contribute
positively to fighting corruption and hence improving the countrys image.

In view of the 2014 CPI results and as a civil society anti-corruption initiative we would
like to suggest further areas that need governments urgent attention and
leadership/stewardship as follows:
1. Facilitate creation of an environment that will make corruption an extremely risky
activity by instituting laws that make it easier for government to seize all assets
and bank accounts duly suspected to have been acquired using stolen public
money
2. Curbing illicit financial flows by strengthening application of money laundering
laws.
3. Declaration of assets by public officials to be periodically monitored and a full
audit conducted on all public officers suspected to have accumulated suspicious
wealth in the course of public service
4. Provide lasting solutions to the perennial disturbances caused by industrial
actions in the countrys Judiciary. This will ensure that corruption cases are
disposed of in good time thereby instilling confidence in the population,
development partners and other critical stakeholders
5. Establish a special tribunal to receive, hear and conclude all cash gate related
cases to expedite conclusion of such cases
6. Establish laws for regulating political party financing
7. Ensure that the Presidential Benefits and Salary Act be reviewed and put specific
/minimum conditions to avoid abuse of office on the part of the president as this
has previously been proven to be aiding corruption and impunity
8. Continue supporting oversight committees in the National Assembly such as the
Quality Assurance Committee of Parliament and the Public Accounts Committee
to ensure that they perform according to the peoples expectations
The National Integrity Platform (NIP) is a newly established civil society anti-corruption
initiative formed under the facilitation of African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC)
and Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN) from a project that was funded by the
Department for International Development DFID. NIP is Transparency Internationals
contact organization in Malawi.

Signed
Moses Mkandawire
Chairman