Mitigating Malawi’s Corruption Crisis: Lessons from Botswana

Mitigating Malawi’s Corruption Crisis: Lessons from Botswana

Mitigating Malawi’s Corruption Crisis: Lessons from Botswana

Submitted: 24 October 2023
Accepted: 07 March 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.70139/rolacc.2024.1.3

Esther Gumboh
Senior Lecturer, Department of Criminal and Procedural Law, Nelson Mandela University
Esther.Gumboh@mandela.ac.za

ABSTRACT
Malawi is losing its fight against corruption. Despite improvements to its anti-corruption measures, the country continues to multiply its high-level corruption scandals. Anti-corruption agencies work in a challenging environment underpinned by systemic challenges. Recent events at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Malawi’s main corruption watchdog, have further dented the country’s anti-corruption efforts, undermining public trust in the ACB and fuelling speculation on political interference in the institution. A presidential commission of inquiry into the matters revealed a sombre image of a broken anti-corruption front fostered by misconceptions of absolute independence that have bred animosity and mistrust. Worse, stripped of integrity and public trust, the Bureau is isolated from key anti-corruption agencies like the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General, and the Malawi Police Service. Unsurprising, Malawi’s anti-corruption fight has been left compromised. Meanwhile, despite its challenges, Botswana remains a beacon for anti-corruption strategies in Africa and offers some lessons. Sustained genuine political will and cooperation amongst anti-corruption institutions are key. These factors, plus an enabling institutional environment uninterrupted by political interference and which fosters well-resourced and unified mechanisms, will assist Malawi to restore public trust in its anti-corruption drive and steer the country towards success.

 Keywords
Corruption; anti-corruption; Anti-Corruption Bureau; Martha Chizuma; DCEC; Malawi; Botswana

© 2024 Gumboh, licensee LU Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this article as: Gumboh E. Mitigating Malawi’s Corruption Crisis: Lessons from Botswana, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center Journal, 2024:1, DOI: https://doi.org/10.70139/rolacc.2024.1.3

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