People across the country believe corruption in Malawi under President Lazarus Chakwera has worsened as members of his cabinet and officials at state house continue to find themselves rocked in fraud scandals.
A new Afrobarometer survey conducted in conjunction with Centre for Social Research indicates that Malawians believe that corruption has increased under the Tonse Alliance administration and that two-thirds of the general public believe there is poor job in dealing with corruption.
Presenting the results on Thursday, Deputy Director for Centre for Social Research Joseph Chunga said 66% of respondents agree that corruption has increased under the Tonse Alliance administration while 57% think it has increased a lot and 66% think government is not doing well to combat the corruption.
According to the report, 83 percent of Malawians want government officials who are suspected to have been involved in corruption to be immediately fired while 57% supports amnesty for those who give back ill-gotten wealth.
“Two thirds (66 percent) of citizens say the government is performing ‘fairly badly’ or ‘very badly’ at fighting corruption. More than eight in 10 Malawians (83 percent) agree with the idea that Cabinet ministers and government officials charged with corruption should be fired immediately,” the report reads.
Members of the ruling Tonse Alliance were also asked questions during the study. The Afrobarometer report shows that 74% of UTM members feel corruption has increased while 58% of Malawi Congress Party members share the feeling.
Fifty-four percent of all respondents believe the Tonse Alliance Government is more corrupt than its predecessor, the Democratic Progressive Party administration.
Malawians also believe that Malawi Police is the most corrupt institution, followed closely by Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
Commenting on the report, Government spokesperson Gospel Kazako argued that the report is not showing statistics related to corruption incidences in the country but perception of Malawians.
“Afrobarometer [people] were dealing with the perception of the people on the fight [against corruption]. It is, therefore, not appropriate for us to reject or accept the results because doing so will be closing the gap between perception and reality,” Kazako said.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) through its Chief Corruption Prevention Officer Susan Phiri welcomed the survey results, saying they reflect how things are on the ground.
Corruption scandals which have hit the Lazarus Chakwera administration include alleged theft of Covid-19 funds and allegations against former Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa who is accused of receiving K23 million and a Mercedes Benz in bribes from a businessperson in order to facilitate land deals.
Chakwera is also accused of being surrounded by aides whose aim is to steal from Malawians. One of Chakwera’s advisors, Martin Thom, who was Executive Assistant and Special Advisor on Religious Affairs, was fired after he smuggled a loan authorization bill to Parliament.
Chakwera’s chief advisor on rural transformation and development, Adamson Joseph Mkandawire, is alleged to have borrowed K378 million from a businessperson accused of defrauding Malawi Government. Maxwell Kalamula and Shyley Kondowe who are also presidential aides were also allegedly involved in the deal.
Chris Chaima who was Chakwera’s Advisor on Strategy and Manifesto was fired last year after he was arrested in connection with fuel deals at the National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma). The same allegations also led to the firing of the then Minister of Energy Newton Kambala.
Mid last year, with increasing scandals of corruption rocking his administration, Chakwera was nicknamed “the King of Thieves” by his predecessor, President Peter Mutharika. During his time as Leader of Opposition, Chakwera had called Mutharika “the Prince of Thieves”.
Chakwera is the king of thieves – Mutharika spits fire
“He called me the Prince of Thieves but Dr Chakwera you’re now the King of Thieves”
— Malawi24 (@Malawi24) July 4, 2021
That’s what happen when you speak louder than action. If you fail to control people that surrounds you,how can you manage to control corruption which is happening over there? No sense Mr president.