Chakwera says Malawi ‘integrity challenged’: Rev Nyondo, Kajoloweka hit at worsening corruption
Leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera has said the nation is “integrity challenged” with the worsening corruption according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI).
Chakwera, who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader, said President Peter Mutharika should be “decisive” in tackling corruption and stop treating some as “sacred cows” if the fight against corruption is going to be successful.
“We are integrity challenged. We talk of integrity but what we do, does not match what we say,” said Chakwera on quotes aired on Daybreak Malawi program of Capital Radio.
“The fight [against corruption] is more less lost even before we start because we have allowed ourselves to lose our moral capital or even sacrifice our moral capital for political survival or political expediency,” said Chakwera.
Apparently one of three pillars of development that President Mutharika touts is integrity.
Chakwera said the leaders are busy enriching themselves through corrupt means and are failing to fight corruption because “they themselves are thieves and corrupt”.
And outspoken general secretary of CCAP Livingstonia Synod Rev Levi Nyondo said there other people in the corridors of power who are larger than life so that “they have no regard on stealing public money.”
Nyondo said the fight against corruption is only targeted on the poor.
He concurred with president of Malawi Law Society, John Suzi Banda that “there is bankruptcy of leadership in the fight against corruption.”
Governance and youth rights advocate Charles Kajoloweka said the Mutharika administration has demonstrated to be “not only corrupt but also incompetent in fighting corruption.”
Kajoloweka said: “We are worried that DPP is becoming a party of darkness associated with executive arrogance, intimidation and corruption which they never explain. We, however, do not believe that President Mutharika is willing to sustain this dangerous status quo.”
He said the CSOs shall continue to discharge its patriotic and impartial watchdog role on corruption cases.
Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) executive director Gift Trapence observed that the worsening corruption is due to “impunity and arrogance” by the leadership and also blamed “passiveness of Malawian.
But government spokesman Nicholous Dausi said Chakwera and the CSOs are merely making “rhetoric and judging formed on the basis of no evidence.”
Dausi hit back at the allegations, asking Chakwera to produce evidence for investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
“These are mere conjectures and political tantrums,” Dausi said.
He also denied that institutions that are mandated to fight corruption have systematically been weakened and that the officers are compromised.
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Please DDP sympathisers, do not throw away your umunthu just because the party leadership is from your region. It is the whole country which is bleeding. It would have been okay if it were the south alone. The words of Chakwera and others are speaking for the voiceless and you are treatingas politics instead of looking at it objectively. Unfortunately you are people who went to school but umunthu mulibemo because of greed. You be punished by God one day.
Corruption in Malawi Has nothing to do with Chakwera. Malawians are suffering from government money stolen by government officials. Chakwera does not run Malawi government and I am glad he has a mansion and fleet of cars before he become president 2019
Mr Chakwera is right, nobody should be treated as a sacred cow. Imagine a leader of a political party who has no business background. He only had 2 small houses and 2 rundown cars prior to assuming leadership of a party. Suddenly he assumes the presidency of a party and suddenly indeed he acquires a fleet of cars and a MK650 million mansion. He keeps party finances under wrap, is this character to be trusted? Is this character fit for president of the country? Does his being vocal make him an angel? You can fool some people some of the… Read more »
Politics or no politics, Malawi is rotten to the bone. Those who want to score political points by pointing a finger at DPP are deplorable. The thing is that every level and every sector of our society is corrupt. How many times have we read about Reverends that embezzled funds from Usaid and the whole synod had to sell property to repay the funds? Have we not read of Roman Catholic priests who embezzled money from philanthropists? Have we not read of Islamic clergy who embezzled money meant for charity? How about “prophets” who skin people alive of their money?… Read more »
SPEAKING WITHOUT ACTION IS USELESS. CHAKWERA IF YOU CAN NOT ACT PLEASE SHUTUP YOUR …. MOUTH.
This is only an opinion! Perception is your view of a scenario.Look at the Governance Peace and Security report conducted by NSO. Corruption starts with us and we expect the government to be policing us.The worst ranked institutions as expected are Police, Immigration, Road Traffic etc.Its part of our culture and we are developing with it.
Banana republic
This very sad to hear Mr Nicholas Dausi asking for evidence. This shows that Mr Nicholas Dausi, The Information minister does not know that audit relates to relevant documentary evidence. To him, the 13 files are without evidence.
Awa ndi mapeto a mbuli mu DPP government.
As a country we have ourselves to blame. God removed DPP from government but with our naivety and general lack of understanding that parties are merely vehicles for development, we voted the corrupt DPP back to power. I tried to pump in sense to a lot of during the run up to 2014 elections but they never listened. Now almost all of them have come back to me to say ”you were right”. Let me repeat what I have said and I want to believe most of well minded individuals know about this, we made a big mistake by voting… Read more »
Senzangakhona, I think people chose the perceived lesser evil during 2014. Up to now I’m not sure if there is any party that will bring hope to Malawians. if there is please, share what attributes it has and the calibre of people driving it. For me I have problems with politicians, they sound good when not in power but when elected and are in control, they do the same things the others were doing but disliked by the Malawians. May be it is the beginning of the end.
U got it wrong, it’s not DPP that is corrupt. It is the employees in companies, civil servants, chiefs, policemen, Road traffic directorate, Admarc, FAM, villagers, priests, prophets, synods etc. So pointing a finger on one corner of the country alone does not help matters.
Mmmmm, am not regretting for assisting DPP in power because I did not vote
Kodi ACB ilipobe ku Malawi kuno? hehehede ulu