Britain supports Malawi with £10.8m for anti-corruption fight: UK’s Minister for Africa meets Chakwera
United Kingdom (UK) has committed an extra £10.8m (about K11 billion) to support Malawi in tackling serious and organised corruption.
The UK’s Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, made the announcement after he had an audience with President Lazarus Chakwera at his official Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Tuesday evening.
Since 2016, the UK has been supporting Malawi through the Tackling Serious and Organised Corruption (TSOC) Programme to strengthen the anti-corruption environment and increase penalties for serious and organised corruption.
The extra funding will see this programme being extended up to 2024, supporting law enforcement efforts in asset recovery and addressing high-level crime.
Duddridge said: “To alleviate poverty, we must tackle corruption. The UK is committed to helping Malawi do so, building robust institutions to tackle serious and organised crime.
“With this funding the UK can support this administration’s vision of fighting corruption by addressing technical and political barriers to reducing corruption in Malawi, and building stronger public financial management systems that help prevent corruption occurring in the first place.”
The TSOC programme will reduce the opportunity for corrupt activity by strengthening the systems regulating how money and services move through the economy; and increase the risks of engaging in corruption, by publicly exposing corrupt individuals and corporations, seizing assets, and improving strategic casework and conviction rates.
The UK has been supporting the Malawian authorities to investigate high-level corruption since the Cashgate scandal of 2013. Some of the notable achievements include:
- The conviction of 17 individuals (14 having been sentenced to a total of 79 years in prison) and MK782 million retrieved in assets linked to a major corruption scandal called Cashgate with the help of UK technical assistance and forensic audit support. A further MK16.5 billion has been identified in ‘sums at risk’ for forfeiture pending scrutiny by the courts.
- Malawi’s legal system has been strengthened through the introduction of plea bargaining and digital data analysis – with UK support – for the first time in select cases.
- Enhanced digital forensic capability of the Anti-Corruption Bureau through a new digital data forensic suite.
- Improved international law enforcement cooperation with mutual legal assistance provided by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and South Africa’s Public Asset Forfeiture Unit.
- Strengthened civil society advocacy working in a flexible and adaptive way to explore the deterrent effectiveness of innovative approaches to tackling corruption
In 2019, Transparency International rated Malawi 123/180 on its Corruption Perception Index.
72% of Malawians think corruption got worse in the last year according to the 2017 Afrobarometer data and only 64% of Malawians think ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption– down from 84% when last asked in 2013.
Global Financial Integrity estimate that £400m (USD585m) leaves Malawi illegally every year – twice the country’s annual health budget.
The World Bank’s Country Economic Memorandum for 2017 identified access to finance, reliability of electricity and water supply, and corruption as the top concerns to establishing and running a business in Malawi.
kusekesa kwake corruption yeni yeni imabwela ndi eni ake azungu omwewo….making us sign botched deals
ndalama zose zinkabwera mmalawi muno zinacitka corrupted. now is the reason omwe amangopakula ak7menyanerana udindo.
tangoganizani imfa ya
njauju
robert chasowa
ma albino
mpaka lelo despite of commissions etc
nanga uyu gadi wa pitalayu plus his cronies mmene alemerera.
2014 november 14 kunali nkhani yoti mabwana 6 akupuma ncito
nanga mma embasy mu zilikozi.
we or they mean nothing had been happening to claim it wrong?????INSANITY INSANITY INSANITY.
BOMA LANYUWANI PLS SHOW THESE CULPRITS THE WAY TO DO THINGS AND I MEAN TO RUN THE GOVERNMENT IN THE RIGHT WAYYYY
Mawoko
That’s good news
Most of that £10.8m or 11 billion kwacha will go on conferences, workshops bad meetings. Of course, they will be training our hard-working civil servants to tackle corruption; preferably at a nice hotel resort in Mangochi or Salima. Of course, our civil servants will need generous allowances for these anti-corruption trainings. They will also need transport; it would be better to invest in some good vehicles such as double-cabs or 4x4s. A cheaper, saloon car of course couldn’t do the same job. This will all greatly benefit the poor Malawian tax-payers struggle against corruption. As we can see over so… Read more »
The UK helping with corruption? How about helping to tackling corruption in Malawi and all over the world by tackling it in the UK. Many corrupt politicians & business people siphon their stolen money through the UK or British Territories, such and Jersey, Isle of Man, Cayman Islands or British Virgin Islands. They also buy high-end properties in England with wealth stolen from the poor people. Also, many multi-National companies have their headquarters in the UK and use their global power and influence to avoid paying tax to poor countries such as Malawi. Illovo, for example, is owned by a… Read more »