Richard Chirombo Talks About Corruption In Malawi: The Hare Called Corruption

By Richard Chirombo
It has been a race.
The hare of criminality, selfishness, greed, and shrewd individual
contriving versus the tortoise of government bureaucracy and policy
zigzagging.
But as Charles Goredema- a fellow at South Africa-based Institute for
Security Studies and author of a book profiling money laundering
trends in Southern Africa- once noted during one of his tours of duty
in Malawi, those with criminal minds always want to be three, five
years ahead of the system.
This applies to the fight against corruption too, enthused Goredema,
adding that there has always been an overlapping, thin line between
money laundering and corruption.
“Financial resources earned through corruptive means will more often
than not be laundered through legitimate means as a means of
disguising their origin. Sad enough that, in most cases, these people
get away with it- externalizing resources from poor countries like
Malawi to destinations where such resources will only benefit a few
individuals at the expense of deserving citizens,” said Goredema.
Money laundering is like throwing a dirty piece of cloth into a basin
of water and detergent soap; with proper washing, it will always come
out clean, as if it hates dirt. It thus becomes difficult to recognize
‘dirty’ money and bring the culprits to book.
That, too, is the irony with corruption; it leaves vulnerable
populations walloping in the long, winding road of poverty, reducing
life to a daily search for the basics.
That is why International Monetary Fund, World Bank, British
Department for International Development, Action Aid, and United
Nations Human Development Indices, among other statistics, come to the
same conclusion: The majority of Malawians live below the poverty line
(US$1 a day). They put it in a way that seems to suggest that crossing
that line is a question of personal choice.
Survival remains a grim necessity for many, a trend often attributed
to corruption in public services delivery. And this reality has over
the years failed to become tolerable by the fact that we are comforted
by an extended family system now withering in face of the HIV and AIDS
pandemic, consoled by religion (being a so called God-fearing nation),
and kept smiling by our irresistible warm-heartedness that is the
Malawian spirit.
“Our only comfort may come from the formation and successful
implementation of national development policies. But we must also
remember that corruption remains one of the biggest challenges facing
national development. All efforts towards sustainable social-economic
development must begin with initiatives addressing this challenge,”
says Mavuto Bamusi, Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC)
National Coordinator.
The Committee, a grouping of 70-plus human rights organisations,
believes that development is an inalienable human right. Where
corruption flourishes, nothing but crumbs fall off from the dinner
table, the only share for the poor and society’s most vulnerable.
“There is no sustainability in that,’ Bamusi says.
Before February 5 last year, this could have been true and the
situation hopeless. Instead of light at the end of the tunnel,
ordinary people and development analysts saw an empty hollow of
blackness hovering over any chances of real progress- that long,
upward struggle of humanity to master and achieve well-being.
But, in attempting to keep pace with the inevitable, government-
through that sniff dog, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)- has jogged
into some purposeful action. The hallmark of this came last year when
President Bingu wa Mutharika launched the National Anti-Corruption
Strategy.
Some four years later, on February 5, 2005, Mutharika had stood on the
podium in Lilongwe and used the Anti-Corruption Day occasion to
announce his resignation from the United Democratic Front. Among other
factors, he cited the party’s frustrating efforts at his zeal to fight
the animal called corruption by the tail.
However, the sight of Mutharika at last year’s Anti-Corruption
Strategy launch in Blantyre was that of an expert architect who
constructs a beautiful city by demolition. His overriding message was
that Malawi could not attain sustainable development without
demolishing the building blocks of corruption.
There are a myriad of fertile grounds for breeding corruption, some of
which include poor perks for those working in public institutions,
lack of transparency and accountability, outdated pieces of
legislation and pure selfishness on part of those entrusted to run
public institutions on behalf of the people of Malawi.
Government has been trying to come around some of the challenges by,
among other things, increasing the take-home package for civil
servants and strengthening the role of supervisory institutions.
“My government will not spare any public officer or minister caught
indulging in corrupt practices,’ Mutharika has not tired to repeat at
various platforms, including during the swearing-in ceremony of the
current crop of ministers.
To repeat is Malawian. Granny Ngoni, Yao, Chewa, Tonga, and Sena
women, for instance, have for a long time, even before the advent of
colonial rule, drilled beauty marks on faces of many generations as a
beauty-enchanting measure.
Despite the incessant pain, the tattooed women would go back to the
‘beauty experts’ for more cuts. Repetition, they understood, created
lasting impressions. Sad that Westernization and corruption of morals
are fast eating through this long-held culture, but its philosophy
still lives in Mutharika.
Government, it seems, will simply not tire to warn, and repeat.
“We will not shift our focus from fighting corruption,” says Leckford
Thotho, Information and Civic Education Minister. “Dr. Mutharika has
made fighting corruption the hallmark of his administration.”
The only challenge could be that corruption takes many dimensions.
That is why the Anti-Corruption Strategy takes the shape of an overall
(ovololo) with many colours.
The colours are the Eight Pillars the Strategy groups various
stakeholders into. Public institutions have their roles and
responsibilities. So do private institutions. But, this year, ACB
wants the nation to focus on the Faith Based Pillar, a chance to cast
more light on interventions of the men and women of the collar.
“But focusing on faith-based institutions, we want to assist in
strengthening their capacity to fight corruption in its various forms.
ACB also wants to strengthen the role of various stakeholders by
focusing on areas deemed key to the country’s success in fighting
corruption,” says ACB Director, Alexious Nampota,
Nampota felt Malawi had chalked a number of positive strides in
fighting the vice, citing the country’s improved standing on
Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
In 2001, the country wore a soiled image, in part because of
uncertainty and inside wrangles at the graft-busting body, screeching
efforts against the vice to a grinding halt. By, by 2003, Malawi was
back on the active anti-corruption trail that, in 2004, government
declared a Zero-tolerance stand on corruption.
This new rhetoric needed corresponding measures, including established
systems that could necessitate swift investigations on suspects, as
well as prosecution and punishment of public officers at all levels.
The Ministry of Economic Planning and Development announced on
November 25, 2005 that part of repositioning for government’s new
stand also included strengthening of offices of the Accountant
General, Auditor General, ACB and Public Accounts Committee.
Government employed resources from the Threshold Programme of the
Millennium Challenge Account to address issues of fiscal mismanagement
and corruption.
“We have managed to bring levels of corruption down, as evidenced by
the country’s CPI performance and ranking. Whereas fighting corruption
requires massive resources, we are happy that government has invested
hugely in anti-corruption efforts,” says Nampota.
The CPI has a score line spanning from 0-10, where nations ranked Zero
are perceived to be too corrupt to guarantee investment returns and
proper running of donor funds. 10 is reserved for countries deemed
least corrupt.
In 2007, Malawi registered a 2.8 mark but later in 2009 moved up to
3.3- the sure sign of a nation on the route towards resuscitation.
This also meant that Malawi moved from position 115 in the world in
2008, to 89 in 2009.
Nampota only hopes for better things to come.
The only worry could be that Malawi has, since 2001, never rose 40
steps up the world ladder. This is indicative in the fact that our
world position was 91 in 2001; 102 in 2002; 83 in 2003; 90 in 2004; 97
in 2005; 105 in 2006; 118 in 2007; 115 in 2008; and 89 in 2009.
The big question, however- in tandem with today’s commemorations
focusing on the Faith Based Pillar- is: As Malawi gets tossed from one
figure to another, playing the character of an exponential curve that
rises, falls and rises again, have our men and women of the collar
really been up to the task?
Apostle Dr. Willie Chaponda, President of Mustard Seed Church
International, says yes. He says members of the clergy have helped in
the fight against corruption through their role as shapers and
advocates of good moral standards.
“The one thing that most people fail to understand is that fighting
corruption is very much part of the gospel. Isn’t corruption the same
thing as stealing? The Bible tells us not to steal or act in deceptive
ways. Fighting corruption is, therefore, not a man-given role; it is
God-given because he warns us against being dishonest,” says Chaponda.
Elder Edward Matale, Public Affairs Director for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons, in Malawi, concurs
with Chaponda. He says one of the doctrines of the church, contained
in Articles of Faith, states that members be honest in their dealings
with fellow human beings.
“President Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, said ‘If
we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we have got to
be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our meditations, in
our private circles, in our deals, in our declarations and in every
act of our lives’. This means that when we engage in corrupt
practices, we disobey God and become slaves unto ourselves,” said
Matale.
Matale said Christians needed to be in the forefront fighting
corruption by obeying laws of the land because when we break national
laws we are also breaking the laws of God, who chose our leaders;
standing a little taller by living corrupt-free lives, even if it
means losing friends, money and our lives, among other things.
Quite strange that Chaponda and Matale, devout Christians, are
speaking as if they attended last Friday’s Islamic prayers at Kamba
Mosque in Blantyre.
Sheikh Ahmed Chienda, Administrator of the Islamic Information Bureau,
was there to preach against corruption on instructions from the Muslim
Association of Malawi, which declared that last Friday be a day of
preaching against the vice, “and the sour seeds of destruction and
misery it plants in us”.
Chienda based his sermon on the Holy Qur’an, Surat (Chapter) 5v2, part
of which warns: ‘Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, But
ye not one another in Sin and rancour. Fear Allah: for Allah is
strict in punishment.’
The sheikh said the verse, though too general, addressed the issue of
corruption because corruption is a two-way process. Those who indulge
in it, he said, are helping others to sin against God and will receive
their due reward of punishment.
“In addition, the Hadith (also called Traditions-and contains the
inspired teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) clearly prohibits acts of
corruption. It warns all parties to a corrupt transaction- giver,
receiver and middle men (agents)- that they will receive stiff
punishment.
“In fact, Islam has always been against corruption because it rewards
the wrong people, promotes unfairness, is unjust to deserving
individuals and retards development. Even at the work place, we see
people promoting undeserving individuals because they have received
favours, but the consequences are disastrous for organisations because
the others feel left out and demotivated,” says Chienda.
That is why we have so many unfinished projects around, adds Chienda.
Where corruption flourishes, people look at the immediate financial
rewards and not the actual completion of the work.
That is not the issue, though. The real issue, says Chienda, is that
the Prophet Muhammad made it clear through his inspired teachings that
when people begin to reward the undeserving because they have received
favours, it simply means the end of the world is nigh!
Any volunteers to spur the end of the world?