The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has called upon Malawians to personalize the fight against corruption in order to win the war against the vice.
ACB Director General, Martha Chizuma made the call in Lilongwe on Wednesday during a media briefing celebrating 25 years of the bureau’s operations since its opening to the public in 1998.
Chizuma said in the past two decades, ACB has registered and processed a total of 36,878 cases of which 10,615 were recommended for investigation whereas 26,210 were either closed or referred to other relevant institutions.
According to Chizuma, a total of 5,314 cases were completed between 2004/2005 and 2022/2023 of which 1,308 were recommended for prosecution.
She said 425 corruption cases were successfully prosecuted and completed in various courts across Malawi between 2004/2005 and 2022/2023 period.
Chizuma said of the cases, 158 representing 37 percent were convictions and 94 cases representing 22 percent were acquittals.
She said the bureau has also made tremendous strides in various aspects since its opening which include increasing the staffing levels and strengthening monitoring and evaluation.
The ACB Director, however, bemoaned the poor rating on anti-corruption fight as reflected by the transparency international corruption perception index (CPI), emphasising the need for concerted efforts in the fight against corruption.
“Since 1998, the fight against corruption has yielded mixed results over the years as shown on the indices produced by Transparency International based on a scale from 0-100 where a score of 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.
“As a country, Malawi has never realised a score of 50 on the index, the highest ever being attained being 41 points achieved during the early years of ACB establishment, whereas the lowest being ever attained was 27 points in 2007,” she said.
On corruption prevention and public awareness, Chizuma said ACB seeks to formulate and implement programs aimed at raising awareness on the evil effects of corruption and soliciting public support in the fight against corruption.
Chizuma called on Malawians to personalise the fight against corruption if the vice is to be rooted out, observing it retards development.
“People should know that whenever there is corruption it affects them in one way or another because whatever money is stolen is their money contributed through taxes and is meant to come back to them through services,” she said.
She said, currently, the bureau is handling cases involving Zuneth Sattar, Vice President Saulos Chilima, Norman Chisale and former president Peter Munthalika, among others.
As part of the commemoration, the bureau will undertake awareness activities that will provide a platform for disseminating anti-corruption messages and also allow the country to reflect on the past 25 years of the anticorruption fight and how it can reposition itself for greater impact.
Reported By Stanley Nkhondoyachepa
