CHRR executive director Undule Mwakasungula said while his body
welcomes the launch of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy they want
the fight against graft not to be discriminatory and that there should
be no sacred cows in government.
Developing a strategy to combat corruption is one thing while
implementation of the strategy is another. While we agree with the
President, Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika, that it is the duty of every citizen
to fight corruption, but we feel that the fight against corruption must
start from within the government structure, said CHRR head in a
statement.
The rights campaigners expressed frustration that despite all the hype
about the Zero Tolerance approach, corruption is still very rampant in
Malawi.
So far, stories of the ‘big fish’ arrested on allegation of corruption
have not gone beyond having them released on bail. If this is the
scenario, are we really serious about fighting this malpractice?
We at CHRR have also not been impressed by the reluctance by the
Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to prosecute cases involving senior
government and other officials suspected of getting involved in
corruption.
The rights body said it strongly feels that unless the ACB and, in
particular, leaders, both at national and local levels, completely put
a stop to the regrettable trend of enforcing the law selectively
against certain members of the society while shielding others from the
same, the battle against corruption will never be won in this country.
We strongly feel that in order for corruption to be completely stamped
out in our country, there is a great need for a great deal of
consistent and undivided political will on the part of our leaders at
all levels of our society, said the statement CHRR said Malawi needs
to strengthen ACB by providing it with adequate human and financial
resources.
We also feel that Section 95 of the Penal Code (2003), which requires
the ACB to seek the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions
(DPP) to send a case for prosecution, should be scrapped. In our view,
the requirement not only contributes to institutional bottlenecks that
limit the operation of the ACB but also leads to bias in prosecutions,
said the statement e-mailed to Nyasa Times.
CHRR said it shares the sentiments of the Law Commission that the
prosecution of corruption cases should take place without the consent
of the DPP, since the DPP has on several occasions been reluctant to
give consent in cases involving high-profile personalities,
particularly government officials.
We at CHRR strongly feel that failure to make these reforms reinforces
the public perception that the ACB is a tool for political
witch-hunting and chastising the opposition.
CHRR said corruption threatens democracy as well as socio-economic development.
If in the next five years, the country continues to find itself among
the world’s most corrupt nations; indeed, if the country fails to
develop due to corruption, we will only have ourselves to blame for
paying lip service to the fight against corruption, said CHRR.
President Mutharika recently admitted that the vice was still a major
problem in the country but noted that steps were being taken to reduce
the malpractice.