MW2063 agenda faces corruption threat

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have warned that the Malawi 2063 long-term development strategy risks failure if corruption continues to worsen in the country.

The two institutions issued the warning at the opening of a two-day National Anti-Corruption Dialogue in Lilongwe yesterday where public justice and law enforcement agencies, development partners, civil society and other stakeholders are strategising on the fight against the vice.

In her speech, ACB director Martha Chizuma conceded that corruption continues to ravage the country’s economy, thereby depriving it of resources that can help inspire transformation.

She said if the situation is not addressed, the country should forget about making any progress towards the attainment of its long-term development aspirations.

Said Chizuma: “We are going nowhere with the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III, we cannot expect any outcomes from the much-touted MW2063.

“If there is no urgency to address corruption, 10 years from now, we will be sitting in this same room, mourning that the Malawi Implementation Plan for the MW2063 we just launched a few days ago has not achieved much or anything.”

The MW2063, which is being championed by the National Planning Commission, seeks to transform Malawi into an exclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised middle-income nation by the year 2063.

Chizuma observed that people indulging in corrupt practices are those entrusted to safeguard public resources.

“In terms of execution of it [corruption], they are getting more sophisticated and doing the corrupt acts with greater intensity,” she said.

But Chizuma said she was pleased that her bureau was winning the trust of the people following its successful prosecutions and arrests of “the elite” in connection with corrupt practices.

The evidence of the trust, she pointed out, was that there was an increase in the number of reported corruption complaints.

“The bureau received 1 217 corruption related complaints during the 2020/21 financial year compared to 642 in the previous year,” said Chizuma.

UNDP acting resident coordinator Rudolf Schwenk said Malawi should tackle corruption to attain the MW2063 agenda and UN-championed Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people are enjoying peace and prosperity by 2030.

“If corruption is not addressed in an efficient and effective manner, it affects development and it will impact on the achievement of SDGs. It will also have an impact on the MW2063,” he said.

In a televised address to the delegates, Vice-President Saulos Chilima, who is in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the 2021 Dubai Expo, also acknowledged that corruption was derailing the country’s economic growth.

He asked the delegates to ensure they come up with resolutions that strengthen the fight against the vice.

Among other aspects, the dialogue is analysing the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II which came into effect in 2019, proposals for establishment of a financial crimes court and enforcement of lifestyle audit of public officers.

In its 2020 Corruption Perception Index, the Transparency International, which annually assesses corruption levels across the globe, ranked Malawi among three countries that have declined heavily in the past nine years.