Mutharika claims credit for anti-graft fight in Malawi

Malawi President Peter Mutharika  on Saturday claimed credit that his government has taken a ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption by living to his promise to adequately funding  the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with human and financial capacity to do its job without the interference of the Executive arm of Government.

“The idea behind the increased funding is to make sure that the Anti-Corruption Bureau operates without huddles,” said  President Mutharika  in northern city of Mzuzu during the commemoration of World Anti-Corruption Day .

“The increase is also going to assist in sealing the existing loopholes that escalate plundering of the public purse and prevent further occurrence,” said Mutharika.

But recently ACB boss Lucas Kondowe complained that the low funding of MK1.4 billion it received from the national budget is not enough to run investigations in the Cashgate scandal.

The funding is disturbing our effectiveness in the investigations. We needed MK 3.6 Billion and the MK1.4 we got to use in the fiscal year is too little from the investigations we are working on in the Cashgate and others,” said Kondowe.

The Head of State  maintained that there will be no “sacred cows” in the fight against corruption, promising to prosecute all those involved in “Cashgate”, a reference to a huge corruption scandal which hit Malawi during Joyce  Banda’s presidency the country lost about K20 billion and from 2005 under the late Bingu wa Mutharika it is said that K92 billion was plundered.

Malawi corruption has been said to be worsening as the country has been ranked 110th among 175 countries in terms of the Corruption Perceptions in 2014 Global Corruption Barometer released by Transparency International (TI) on December 3 2014.

Mutharika maintained that Malawians need justice delivered and that “no one should blackmail the State by saying this is witch-hunting.”

He also urged the Police, ACB, the Director of Public Prosecutions and other law enforcement agencies to operate “independently but professionally”.

The  cashgate scandal saw millions of dollars worth of public money allegedly stolen by politicians, civil servants and businessmen.

It led to donors cutting aid. Malawi is heavily dependent on aid, which provides 40% of the government’s budget.