Despite various interventions to aid the fight against corruption, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says graft continues to worsen in the country, largely facilitated by poor public service delivery.
Speaking in an interview yesterday on the sidelines of the launch of the 2024 Governance and Corruption Survey, ACB director of corruption prevention Mary Phombeya said poor public sector service delivery creates a fertile ground for corruption.
She said: “Truth be told, corruption is worsening because we can see that people are complaining and also public service delivery is poor. So this is an indication that corruption is worsening in Malawi.
“The research which we are conducting is going to give us accurate information on that.”
Phombeya said the shortage of skilled staff coupled with inadequate resources also contribute to the poor fight against graft.
To be conducted in partnership with National Statistical Office (NSO) with support from United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), the survey seeks to assess the perceptions of the public and business entities on corruption prevalence and trends as well as to evaluate efficacy of governance anti-corruption strategies in combating corruption.
Phombeya expressed optimism that findings of the survey will help to inform policy and decision-making in government as well as institutional reforms to achieve good governance in the country.
“As you know that corruption fights back, there is no way the Anti-Corruption [Bureau] can win the fight on its own. So, we need the support from the public and other stakeholders so that we can win the fight against corruption,” she said.
Her sentiments come against the background of a similar survey conducted in 2019 which found that about 97 percent of the respondents view corruption as a serious problem and 61 percent believed it increased in 2018.
The 2019 survey further found that police and government officials are perceived as the most corrupt followed by village heads, non-governmental organisations and members of Parliament.
In a separate interview, NSO commissioner Shelton Kanyanda said the survey’s data analysis is expected to be completed by August 19 2024 before result dissemination and validation on September 16 2024.
He said the survey population sample included 1 560 households, 510 public officials as well as 510 people in the private sector.
“So the key questions will be on whether the people have experienced corruption, if they feel they can also be involved in corruption, but also how they can present information,” said Kanyanda.
The 2023 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) data released in January this year showed that Malawi’s fight against corruption has weakened in the 10 years dating back to 2012.
According to TI, in 2012 Malawi scored 37 points, but during the 10 years under review it has fallen by three points, scoring 34 and eventually landing on position 115 of the 180 countries assessed.
The 34 points were maintained from 2022, but the position has further slipped from 110 to 115 this year.
On the other hand, a 2022 Afrobarometer survey revealed that two in every three Malawians perceive corruption levels to have increased in the previous year and government’s commitment to fight the vice was poor.
The survey found that 66 percent of Malawians held the view that corruption had worsened under the Tonse Alliance administration.
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