ACB courts Malawi journalists on corruption investigation and reporting

State-funded graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), has appealed to journalists in Malawian to collaborate with the bureau in investigating, exposing and reporting corruption and bribery.

The bureau made the appeal in Lilongwe when she opened a half-day sensitization workshop for the media pillar on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II (NACS II).

This is the second workshop in a series of workshops ACB planned for the media in an effort to woo the support of journalists in tackling corruption and bribery.

The first workshop was conducted on 22 September 2020 at Mt. Soche hotel in Blantyre and was graced by the Minister of Information Hon. Gospel Kazako.

Recently, Transparency International (T) announced that Malawi had once again scored poorly on the fight against corruption and bribery with latest studies showing the country has slipped from 120 to 123 on the global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

The 2019 CPI revealed that a majority of countries, including Malawi, are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption.

The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people. It uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on the 2019 CPI, with an average score of just 43.

The report said similar to previous years, the data shows that despite some progress, a majority of countries are still failing to tackle public sector corruption effectively.

This has prompted ACB to engage extra gear in fighting the vice. The bureau has now turned to the media, urging journalists to assume a bigger role in investigating, exposing and reporting corruption.

ACB Director of Corruption Prevention Mary Phombeya said corruption remains one of the greatest challenges and impediments to development in Malawi as only a few people benefit from corrupt practices while the nation is deprived of vital resources.

Phombeya said it is therefore necessary to have political will, a multi-sector approach and the unwavering support of members of public for the country to win the battle against corruption.

“It is against this background that the Malawi Government formulated the NACS II with an increased number of pillars to ensure that no one is left behind in the fight against corruption. It is a tool to support good governance in Malawi and eradicate corruption, through anti-corruption reforms and promotion of a culture that is intolerant to corrupt practices,” she said.

She said journalists have a very crucial role to play in order to achieve the goal since they have the platform to use to reach out to members of the public with anti-corruption messages.

Phombeya further stated that since journalists are trusted by members of the public, they are in the most powerful position to impact the fight against corrupt practices in Malawi.

“The Survey conducted by IPOR during the review of the first NACS found that you as members of the media are doing a lot in the fight against corruption. In fact, media beat the Bureau in that survey. Therefore, the Bureau will expect the various pillars to come up with work plans on how they will be implementing the NACS. We therefore would like to call upon all the pillars including the media to streamline anti-corruption initiatives in their programs,” she said.

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