Chakwera says Malawi ‘integrity challenged’:  Rev Nyondo, Kajoloweka hit at worsening corruption

Leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera has said the nation is “integrity challenged” with the worsening corruption according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI).

Chakwera, who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader, said President Peter Mutharika should be “decisive” in tackling corruption and stop treating some as “sacred cows” if the fight against corruption is going to be successful.

“We are integrity challenged. We talk of integrity but what we do, does not match what we say,” said Chakwera on quotes aired on Daybreak Malawi program of Capital Radio.

“The fight [against corruption]  is more less lost even before we start because we have allowed ourselves to lose our moral capital or even sacrifice our moral capital for political survival or political expediency,” said Chakwera.

Apparently one of three pillars of development that President Mutharika touts is integrity.

Chakwera said the leaders are busy enriching themselves through corrupt means and are failing to fight corruption because “they themselves are thieves and corrupt”.

And outspoken general secretary of CCAP Livingstonia Synod Rev Levi Nyondo said there other people in the corridors of power who are larger than life so that “they have no regard on stealing public money.”

Nyondo said the fight against corruption is only targeted on the poor.

He concurred with president of Malawi Law Society, John Suzi Banda that “there is bankruptcy of leadership in the fight against corruption.”

Governance and youth rights advocate Charles Kajoloweka said the   Mutharika administration has demonstrated to be “not only corrupt but also incompetent in fighting corruption.”

Kajoloweka said: “We are worried that DPP is becoming a party of darkness associated with executive arrogance, intimidation and corruption which they never explain. We, however, do not believe that President Mutharika is willing to sustain this dangerous status quo.”

He said the  CSOs shall continue to discharge its patriotic and impartial watchdog role on corruption cases.

Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) executive director Gift Trapence observed that the worsening corruption is due to “impunity and arrogance” by the leadership and also blamed “passiveness of Malawian.

But government spokesman Nicholous Dausi said Chakwera and the CSOs are merely making “rhetoric  and judging  formed on the basis of no evidence.”

Dausi hit back at the allegations, asking Chakwera to produce evidence for investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

“These are mere conjectures and political tantrums,” Dausi said.

He also denied that  institutions that are mandated to fight corruption have systematically been weakened and that the officers  are compromised.