Malawi police to launch anti-corruption drive -IG

Malawi Police Service reacting to findings of the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer by Transparency International (TI) showing that the law enforcement agency is the most corrupt institution in the country, has said it is launching the Anti-Corruption Policy and Strategy this year.

According to the Inspector General of Malawi Police Service Loti Dzonzi, the service is currently working with the Anti-Corruption Bureau  (ACB) with a joint task team that has been doing some stakeholder consultation within the organisation.

“The task team within the police service is working towards the development of the Anti-Corruption Policy and Strategy. In a few weeks  time the task team will complete its duties and we believe by the coming month of August or early September, we will launch the Anti-Corruption Policy and Strategy,” he said.

Dzonzi said he is aware of the corruption in the police service.

Dzonzi: Police will fight corruption
Dzonzi: Police will fight corruption

The report by global watchdog Transparency International issued this week alleges that Malawi’s police are the most corrupt of the 12 institutions surveyed in the country.

The police service scored a 4.7 on a scale of 1 – 5 – with 5 being extremely corrupt. Public officials and civil servants earned a score of 4.3.  Religious institutions are considered the least corrupt, scoring 2.6.

Dzonzi declined to comment on the report, saying he has not read it.

“I haven’t seen or read that report but issues of corruption are issues that as a police service we take them seriously. The reason being that corruption erase public trust and confidence in a public service provider like the police service.

“Perhaps what is important for us is to see how we can argument the initiative that we have taken as an institution we are working in collaboration with the ACB in tackling issues of corruption within the police service,” he said.

Dzonzi said: “our level of interaction is quiet intensive. We interact with the public on the roads; we interact with the public in the community.

“And therefore with that level of interaction the chances of temptation are higher than other profession that don’t interact intensively as we are and that therefore calls for a more concerted effort on our part to constantly fight corruption and because of that our level of success is being intended on the reportage that we receive.”

He further said that as police service, issues of investigations on officers that are involved in corruption do happen in the organisation in order to curb the malpractice.

“We investigate other police officers who are involved in issues of corruption but it is a challenge which gives us a job to do because as police officers we have to show professionalism that requires an ability to tackle investigations on those that are involved in corruption in the most objective manner possible,” said Dzonzi.

The TI report presents public officials and civil servants at 4.3 and the judiciary at 4.1 ranking high on the most corrupt departments. Parliament is at 3.9, business and the private sector at 3.8, military at 3.4, the media at 3.1 and NGOs at 3.0.

The least corrupt in Malawi are the religious bodies at 2.6, according to the report.

Southern African regional coordinator for Transparency International, Tapiwa Uchizi Nyasulu said the report is based on interviews with citizens who were asked if they had been in contact with the police for the past 12 months and did they pay any bribes.

This is the second time in three years that the Malawi police have been ranked most corrupt by Transparency International.

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