By Burnet Munthali
President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government is so corrupt immensely. This is testified in the front page of Weekend Nation newspaper on Saturday 27 May ,2023, which reportedly that government has handpicked bidders for Agricultural Inputs Program (AIP).
This is disappointing and frustrating to the people who elect a government. It’s before daylight theft by leaders in power.
Who gave them the power to do such kind of a transaction? In whose interest is government doing all this?
When a government handpicks bidders for any program, that is a sad situation so to speak. It is clear corruption and underestimating the citizens of this country and nothing else. It’s this what the government can do for the people of Malawi? This is a big insult indeed !
Secondly, this is a clear breach of government procedures and abuse of office for whoever has made this decision. It’s one of the reasons this nation won’t go anywhere but just round in circles.
We need a serious government which can provide better services to its citizens than what happening right now.
Political corruption and the application of wrong decisions by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain is very unfortunate and taking the nation to the wrong destination.
This is the beginning of yet another illegal business taking place in broad daylight whereby government wants to steal from its people yet again for the fourth growing season in a row.
From poor network in 2020, our computers showing that poor farmers already took fertilizer when they didn’t, to AIP fertilizer program funds ending up in a butchery abroad is enough evidence that we have a government of thieves.
The poor farmers of Malawi are indeed in big trouble and everyone else is dancing to the wrong music.
Poverty is a known factor that encourages corruption in local governments. Did Malawians make a big mistake voting for leaders who were out of government for close to thirty years?
Places with failing economies and poverty sometimes get loans or start aid programs to support the local economy and the people, and public officials are often able to unlawfully take the money or goods for private gain. Haven’t Malawians seen enough of all this? We are yet to see more plunder in the next growing season.
Speaking up and making a complaint helps to expose corrupt activities and risks that may otherwise remain hidden.
Keeping the public sector honest, transparent and accountable helps stop dishonest practices and ensuring that public sector employees act in the public interest. Unfortunately, everything is getting worse in this country.
In a nutshell, corruption increases inequality, decreases popular accountability and political responsiveness, and thus produces rising frustration and hardship among citizens, who are then more likely to accept (or even demand) hard-handed and illiberal tactics.
Economics of corruption must deal with the misuse of public power for private benefit and its economic impact on society.
Economies that are afflicted by a high level of corruption will not make this nation prosper as fully as those with a low level of corruption. Our levels of corruption are getting higher than in the past and this is bad.
Corruption is increasing income inequality and poverty through lower economic growth; biased tax systems favoring the politicians and well-connected; poor targeting of social programs, like Agricultural Inputs Program (AIP); use of wealth by the well-to-do to lobby government for favorable policies that perpetuate inequality in asset ownership; lower social spending; the list goes on.
Finally, we need political economy to integrate political and economic factors in our analysis of modern society.
In as much as just about everyone would agree that politics and economics are intricately and irretrievably interwoven—politics affects the economy and the economy affects politics—this approach seems natural.
It’s our leaders plan well it affects the nation positively, when our leaders plan badly, the nation is affected negatively.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor
