The 2022–23 financial year institutional integrity compliance monitoring report by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has revealed that out of 97 government institutions that were assessed in Corruption Risk Assessments, only 30 percent had completed their assessments.
According to the report, 29 MDAs, 15 of which were parastatals, four councils, and 10 ministries, had completed the CRA.
The report comes as the 2023 corruption perception index by Transparency International indicates that Malawi’s fight against corruption remains weak.
Anti-corruption activist Nicolas Mwisama said that this is an indication that the country has a long way to go to fight corruption.
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He said Malawi should find a way of punishing institutions that are not adhering to set corruption prevention tools.
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“It is a fact that we always point fingers at politicians because they are the ones involved in the malpractice, yet we have public servants who could have been in the front to guide politicians to have policies in their workplace to curb corruption,” Mwisama said.
ACB spokesperson Egrita Ndala said a review of systems and procedures on corruption perception is important because it enables the bureau to overcome bottlenecks, strengthen internal controls and improve service delivery by identifying loopholes in fraud and corruption.
“It is advisable that institutions isolate one or two systems or procedures at a time conduct a review, and then observe if recommendations are producing the desired result,” Ndala said.
According to the report, all institutions in the country are supposed to institute Institutional Integrity Committees (IIC) that are mandated to develop corruption prevention tools such as corruption prevention policies, client service charters, gift guidelines, and conflict of interest declaration forms.
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Corruption risk assessment mandates IICs to identify weaknesses within their institutional systems and procedures that may present opportunities for corruption and fraud to occur.
The identified risk areas are then ranked and targeted for anti-corruption interventions.
According to the report, in the assessment, 44 percent of the institutions indicated that they had reviewed at least one system or procedure.
Seventy percent indicated that they had submitted recommendations to their controlling officers.
The report indicates that Malawi Revenue Authority is the first to have developed an IIC in the country.
It is also implementing a lifestyle audit policy under which staff members declare their assets.
The report has further said that the Financial Intelligence Authority has developed and is implementing a Code of Ethics and Conduct.
“Some staff members at FIA are now able to refund money received for activities they did not attend,” reads part of the report.
The National Anti-Corruption Strategy II mandates institutional IICs to conduct a review of work systems and procedures and submit recommendations to their controlling officers.
