Malawi: Will Joyce Banda Slay the Corruption Dragon?

Published on 5th November 2013

H.E. Joyce Banda
Corruption in Malawi is both deep-rooted and deep-seated. In fact, it would not be wrong to equate it to an endemic disease. ‘Stamping out corruption’ has been the song of every democratically elected government since 1994. However, despite concerted efforts, corruption keeps on heightening. If there has been any success in the battle against corruption, this has been in theory and not in practice. It is worth noting that corruption in Malawi takes place in various forms, in various places, and at various hierarchical levels. There is no sector of the society that has been spared: the countryside and the towns alike.

However, what is most worrying is today’s form of corruption, which conspicuously has the potential of bringing to standstill government machinery and all its operations! This is high-level corruption taking place during President Joyce Banda’s administration at the Capital Hill, the seat of government machinery in Lilongwe, the Capital City. This is locally dubbed the Cash-Gate scandal. In this article I beg to differ. In my view, this should rightly be described as the Financial Crisis. Period.

On 20th September 1995 the then Minister of Labour and Manpower Development, Richard Sembereka, was quoted as saying “corrupt officers have no room in the Ministry. He said it was “the officers’ duty to serve the public without expecting rewards” (The Monitor, Vol. 3, No. 169). However, there were reports that officers in the same Ministry were expecting the general public to “oil their palms in exchange for service”. Let me quickly point out here that this was at the onset of multi-party politics and democracy in Malawi. It is worth noting that during each successive government since then corruption, and its sister evils (fraud and bribery), have been the order of the day. This is why in this article corruption is equivalent to an endemic disease that refuses to be wiped out once and for all.

Indeed, everything has got its good and bad side (chinthu chilichose china uwemi na uheni wake). During the one-party state under Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, corruption (viphuphu) and all similar concomitant evils – theft, bribery, fraud, graft, and thuggery – had little room. Why? They were harshly dealt with and this sent the right signal and message to would-be offenders in society. It is indicated that three weeks after Malawi attained independence, Dr. Banda announced during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), Summit held in Cairo, Egypt, that Malawi “had one party, one leader, one government and no nonsense about it.” It is this ‘no nonsense’ that brought about fiscal discipline within the country. Offenders then were being physically beaten by the now-defunct Malawi Youth League (mind you, there was no youth about this League!) and later soaked wet or ‘drenched’ before being handed over to the police in their shivering state for further ‘necessary action.’

I vividly remember one theft scenario when I was in junior primary school in the early 1980s. An old man was caught stealing chickens and he was taught a bitter lesson. He used to go around the residential location (Chikalamba in Rumphi District) with maize grain in his pocket and whenever he spotted chickens, he could throw the grain at them, attracting them in the process. Once the chickens were busy eating the grain, he would play the role of a cat and catch one of them! One day, there were people around watching him and immediately after catching one huge cock, it was his turn to be caught! Within a few minutes people ‘descended’ on him after shouting “thief!” A few minutes later he had been sorted out, was bleeding profusely and paraded in the streets for all to see. I was very close to the scene and, frankly, I felt sorry for the old man. That was then. I was young. Now, years later, I have little sympathy for him. In fact, thugs, thieves, robbers and fraudsters deserve little sympathy from any right-thinking person.

But what happens in democratic Malawi? These criminals have human rights and human freedoms. I wonder if this includes freedom to steel and to be corrupt! These culprits have to be handed over to the police ‘for necessary action.’ That is okay. But what is wrong is the fact that the next day the same culprits are freed partly as a result of corruption at the hands of the police or court officials, who in the first place are supposed to check it. Is it a surprise, therefore, that criminality and corruption keep on heightening in modern Malawi in such a case?

The other side of the coin has to do with the punishments for various offenses. If one looks at the laws under Hammurabi’s Code among the Old Babylonians in the ancient world, these laws distinguished between major and minor offenses. Minor offenses attracted minor punishments and major offenses called for stiffer punishments. In some instances this is not the case in the modern era: at times both minor and major offenses would carry lighter punishments. What is more, similar offenses would attract different punishments: one would call for a fine, while the other would attract a jail term. The whole scenario is sometimes chaotic!

That is why I sometimes prefer ‘sharia law’ (corporal punishment). Thieves like the one in the above scenario deserve real-hard flogging on their bare backs. Yes, no gender discrimination here. If it is 150 lashes (vikoti) for men, the same should apply for women. I wonder if we could be having as many corruption cases in modern Malawi as is currently the case.

The Bingu Wa Mutharika administration (2004-2012) was characterized by vigorous anti-corruption rhetoric, which, in typical African politics style, was inevitably targeted at the old United Democratic Front (UDF) bigwigs, including Bakili Muluzi himself. It is noteworthy that the latter was briefly arrested in March 2006 on charges of fraud and corruption that were subsequently dropped. Muluzi was arrested again in February 2009 (just before the May 2009 general elections – check the timing of the arrest!) and bailed out within hours. He, however, still stands to face possible charges of 86 counts of corruption and abuse of office, including the alleged diversion of more than US$10million of donor money into his personal account.

However, Mutharika’s anti-corruption drive waned and paled during his second term of office (2009-2012; he died in office and failed to reach the 2014 general elections). His “zero-tolerance against corruption” became a mere song which kept on being sung during the yearly Anti-Corruption Day and any other similar occasion. It was clear he was ‘forced’ to sing this song, having taught Malawians the song after dumping the UDF of Muluzi in 2005. But in practice, grueling corruption was the order of the day. People questioned how big contracts were being awarded to contractors; how some companies became favourites over others; and how construction companies from the East, for example, Motor Engil, all of a sudden became much better, hence preferable, as compared to those from the West. By 2011 it was clear that the economy was off-track. This was the time when Mutharika stuck to his guns and was not ready to devalue the Malawi Kwacha amidst international pressure. In the process he lost donor confidence and, subsequently, budgetary support from bilateral donors including Britain.

During this time, Mutharika dubbed economic engineer and Chitsulo Cha Njanji (a man who was as hard as railway steel) lost track as he desperately puddled in mud with his zero-deficit budget. The latter proved futile to say the least. Is it not a paradox that the economist of international repute messed up the economy so much that his last days in office were embarrassingly problematic: frequent fuel shortages across the country; no stocks in maize silos; uncontrolled price hikes on consumer goods; and the list is endless. The climax of it all is the realization that after his death, his estate was valued at over MK61billion.

Up to now Malawians have so many unanswered questions, for example, how did Mutharika amass all this wealth (the man had become filthy rich) within a short time? In trying to justify such wealth, elite members of his party, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), could hardly give a convincing explanation: “You should realize that Mutharika was, among others, a writer; he wrote books and the money was partly proceeds from the sale of such books.” My foot! What a kindergarten explanation!

However, corruption has reached a crisis point during the Joyce Banda administration (2012 onwards). In fact, we are talking about high-level corruption: corruption that is taking place at the Capital Hill, the seat of government machinery in Lilongwe. We are not talking about low-level corruption in the countryside, rather corruption implicating high-level personnel like cabinet ministers, principal secretaries, and name them. This is corruption which has almost paralysed the operations of government departments.

This is locally dubbed the Cash-gate scandal. However, this is slightly misleading since it belittles the problem at hand. In my view, the collapse of the national financial management system as a result of gnawing and grueling corruption should rightly be called “Malawi’s financial crisis.” If this is correct, then why not declare a state of emergency? In fact, what is happening on the ground is beyond corruption: theft by public and civil servants. And through this theft, Malawi has lost millions of tax-payers money.

It is a paradox that in April 2012 when Joyce Banda was assuming the Office of the Presidency, Malawians had a high regard for the first-ever female President in Malawi’s history. In fact, they were all praises of the lady’s government (boma la amayi; boma la amama). But less than two years down the corruption lane, look at the financial mess that the so-called boma la amama is presiding over! Fortunately or unfortunately, the general elections are around the corner (May 2014) and the ball remains in the court of Malawians and they, alone, will decide what to do with this ball. Amen.

By Harvey C. Chidoba Banda

The author [email protected] is Lecturer in African History, Department of History, Mzuzu University.
Malawi.


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