Terrible! Malawi corruption situation getting worse

Malawi is hastily embracing corruption as it has skyrocketed on a corruption index from position 88 to 120 in the world in the year 2016, latest statistics by the Transparency International (TI) have shown.

The TI index known as Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)  indicates Malawi is one of the nations that is in serious cases of corruption.

TI works together with governments, businesses and citizens to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals.

In 2014, Malawi was ranked on position 110 of 175 countries assessed while in 2013 it was on position 88 out of a total 177 countries.

Malawi is one of the nations to be lowly ranked.

These are nations plagued by untrustworthy and badly functioning public institutions like the police and judiciary. Even where anti-corruption laws are on the books, in practice they’re often skirted or ignored. People frequently face situations of bribery and extortion, rely on basic services that have been undermined by the misappropriation of funds, and confront official indifference when seeking redress from authorities that are on the take.

This comes in the wake of trending issues of corruption at Admarc in which money  (MK26 Billion)  meant for in procuring maize from Zambia was reportedly embezzled.

The biggest financial scandal which hit Malawi which is popularly known as cashgate saw K24 billion being lost.

Other incidents involved the Malawi’s embassy in Ethiopia. It was reported in May last year that up to K293 Million was stolen at the Embassy.

According to a summary on the TI’s website, ‘’ Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year’s index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country’s public sector. Top-scoring countries (yellow in the map below) are far outnumbered by orange and red countries where citizens face the tangible impact of corruption on a daily basis.’’

ITI says the ‘’results highlight the connection between corruption and inequality, which feed off each other to create a vicious circle between corruption, unequal distribution of power in society, and unequal distribution of wealth.’’

Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe are the most improved African countries in the 2016 index. Both countries held democratic presidential elections in 2016. It is no surprise that the independent electoral observer teams labelled the Cape Verde elections for 2016 as “exemplary”. This election that saw Jorge Carlos Fonseca re-elected, was held in a framework of a continuously improving integrity system, as observed by various African governance reviews.

In São Tomé and Príncipe elections held in July 2016 led to a smooth change of government, which is increasingly a challenge in the African region.

ITI has since asked African leaders to work towards ending corruption when they take office.

‘’They must implement their commitments to the principles of governance, democracy and human rights. This includes strengthening the institutions that hold their governments accountable, as well as the electoral systems that allow citizens to either re-elect them or freely choose an alternative.’’ Reads a depict from ITI website.

FIND OUT MORE ON THE INDEX HERE.