End of road for corrupt officers in Department of Road Traffic
Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Francis Chinsinga on Friday attested to his Ministry’s commitment to curb corruption in the Department of Road Traffic.
Chinsinga said rendering of road traffic and safety services, including enforcement of road traffic regulations has been among the high ranked corruption zones in the country. As a Ministry he said they have been implementing a lot of reforms to reduce all the risk areas to corruption and fraud in then road transport subsector.
Chinsinga was speaking during the launch of two policy documents namely the Corruption and Fraud Prevention Policy and Client Service Charter for the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS).
He said the launch of the two documents symbolized strides and continued effort taken by the Ministry to curb corruption at the DRTSS and improve service delivery to the general public, in a consistent and high quality manner.
He added that corruption and fraudulent practices are among other reasons fostering the increase in road accidents facilitated by the lack of proper procedures in obtaining critical services at the directorate of road traffic and safety services and collusion with traffic law enforcement officers.
He said the corrupt and fraudulent practices give room to operation on the roads of the country vehicles that are not road worthy, as well as, unskilled drivers.
“It is against this background that my Ministry has developed the Corruption and Fraud Prevention Policy and Client Service Charter to provide guidelines and procedures for preventing, detecting, reporting and investigating corruption and fraud.
He added: “This is to promote an environment and a culture intolerant to corruption, supporting the directorate to protect its reputation and government revenue.”
Chinsinga said the DRTSS would ensure that the documents are used to the full capacity by ensuring genuine guide for the organization in search of excellence in offering services to the general public.
The Director General of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Reyneck Matemba said the two documents were vital in curbing corruption at the Directorate and its enforcement is meant to maximize deterrence from corrupt practices noting the documents are supposed to act as a tool for empowering staff and key stakeholders with information on corruption.
“The need to prevent corruption at the directorate cannot be overemphasized, corruption in such an important regulatory institution is a threat to the safety of every road user, in fact every person in Malawi, for there is rarely a person in Malawi who does not use the road at one point or the other,” he said.
Matemba urged the DRTSS to put the documents into use and not shelve them, he advised the Directorate to educate its officers on the content of the documents so that they should be aware of the dos and don’ts of the directorate.
The policies will provide a channel through which employees, suppliers, clients and the general public can report irregular activities taking place within the directorate’s sphere of control without fear of victimization, or repercussions
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Blantyre based Road Traffic personnel a “Mr Chikoja” prints Driving Licences for girlfriends, mother-inlaws, brothers/sisters-inlaws. This is Fraudulent and Corruption practice at its best. If he is a boss or has money-enough why cant he send them all to driving schools? Kunyengera akazi using govt resources! Too chep!!! ACB and Police Investigation Dept, plz mukammange. Fransis Chimnsinga please sack “Chikoja”
Impossible to stop corruption Kuyera, Chisi, Chigoneka and even the guard at Road Traffic is the richest person in Malawi.
Bottomline is not polices but processes and procedures, there is no speed in serving clients thats why there is awz panic and jumping the line is what happens, speed is lacking in most institutions that provide public services in Malawi
While you say there is no room for it st Road Traffic, Corruption has made its own makeshift home and has brought its own stool. It is there to stay no matter… the systems are about people dealing with people. From my observations corruption is even worse now…
“As a Ministry he said they have been implementing a lot of reforms to reduce all the risk areas to corruption and fraud in then road transport subsector.” But I think this is a lie. If a lot reforms have been implemented we would not have been where we are. Only last year 2500 lives were lost on Malawian roads. Malawian public transport system is one of the most unregulated transport systems in the region. We are still using the small minibuses for long distances e.g. Mzuzu – Karonga, taxis are still covering distances close to 100km. And then Malawi… Read more »
Chisi is untouchable amalandira ma 6pin for COF kwa aliyense
Anakweza its now 10,000 kwa wina aliyense komanso si yenkha onse aja amalandira sabisanso
You must be mad . Is it the way of reporting?
If wishes were horses