Corruption worries Catholic Church in Malawi

The twin-evil of bribery and corruption in Malawi continue to ravage every fabric of the society that is worrying, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), an arm of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), has said.

Outlining the Commission’s concerns regarding current events in the country in a statement, CCJP national secretary Chris Chisoni said one of the issues they deliberated and reflected upon with prayer at their  December 2, 201 meeting at Msamba Pastoral Centre in Lilongwe  was the saddening reports of misuse of funds by public officers and national leaders.

“We in CCJP sadly note that corruption has slowly but surely, though painfully become the DNA of our society at all levels and all manners of society,” Chisoni said in the statement.

“Corruption has become endemic with a very critical negative impact on public life as there is no confidence from the public in public, private and non state officials and their systems.

“Many cries are heard from public utility institutions like immigration, road traffic, ESCOM, Water Boards and public hospitals among many other institutions, that no space is enough to list them here,” reads the statement.

CCJP noted that the impact of corruption as evidenced in cashgate scandal “are more devastating on the economy and livelihood of the people especially the poor. “

The commission is asking all Malawians to resist,  stop corruption and they must also report corruption.

“We further ask government to put multifaceted strategies for the anti corruption drive. Having Anti Corruption Bureau  is not enough, we need school curriculum on corruption, we need additional anti corruption drives that must permeate all sectors of our society,” said Chisoni

Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe said Cashgate exerted “significant challenges” to the economy particularly on inflation and the exchange rate.

The country was  named most graft-ridden nation according to Global Corruption Barometer released by Transparency International (TI) on December 3 2014.

Malawi – currently rocked with the biggest corruption scandal in the country’s history with K20 billion was looted from public coffers by top government officials in a period of 6 months in 2013 and about K92 billion from 2005 dubbed cashgate – has fallen down on the ladder by 5 places on the index to record a score of 33 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions index, from a score of 37 in 2013.