MZUZU-(MaraviPost)-As Malawi joins the whole world in celebrating International Anti Corruption Day which falls on December 9 yearly, National Initiative for Civic Education ( NICE ) Trust in conjunction with Oxfam, African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC) and Integrity Platform IP) on December 13, 2019, organised a panel discussion which took place at Sunbird Mzuzu Hotel.
The discussion, was organised as a platform for the members who attended it to express their views on the findings of a report from the office of the Auditor General on the public finance management.
The discussion was also aimed at using such views from the panelists as a panacea to fight corruption which is deep-rooted in the public sector as evidenced by the findings of the report.
Chrispine Mphande, a senior lecturer at Mzuzu University, George Allan Phiri, a senior lecturer at University of Livingstonia, Emily Mkamanga, a social commentator, Wesley Mwafulirwa, legal specialist on anti corruption and Egrita Ndala, Public Relations Officer for Anti-corruption Bureau were the panelists who led the discussion.
According to the Auditor General’s report, payments of fuel and other services without supporting documents, failure to remit Pay As You Earn (PAYE), payment voucher not recorded in record books, among others, are the loopholes through which public finances are siphoned.
One of the panelists of the discussion, George Allan Phiri said the rampant corruption in the public sector is because of the ‘yes bwana syndrome’ which is so common.
“Most of the officers in the public sector want to be called bwanas and yet they forget that they are public servants employed by the public to serve the same. Their salaries come from the taxes which Malawians pay.
“Therefore, they need to stop thinking that they are bosses. As a nation, we need to develop an anti-corruption language to stop the ‘yes bwana’ language,” said Phiri.
Whilst concurring with Phiri, another panelist, Wesley Mwafulirwa who is a legal practitioner, said such financial reports from the Auditor General are good because they feed the public with information as to how effective the government financial systems like Integrated Financial Management System (IFIMS) are, but there is little that is being done to fight corruption.
However, when she was asked to explain what her instution is doing to curb Corruption in the public sector, Public Relations Officer for Anti-corruption Bureau, Egrita Ndala said her institution depends on such reports from the Auditor General, among others, to investigate and prosecute corrupt officers.
“Our system is fully functional to hold controlling officers accountable if need be. The annual reports from the Auditor General’s office help us to investigate malpractices which breed corruption in the public sector,” said Ndala.
During the public discussion it was noted that the public system is doing something to curb Corruption in the public institutions but it is not enough.
According to international organisations whose primary function is to fight corruption and administrative malpractices, Malawi is rated as one of the countries where corruption is very rampant.