BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has presented its findings to the public on the investigation it carried into Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) dubious recruitment of Revenue Officers.
ACB Director General Reyneck Matemba issued a notice on April 15 to MRA Commissioner General, Tom Malata, stopping the recruitment of Revenue Officers over possible offences under the Corrupt Practices Act which might have been committed in the recruitment process.
The bureau immediately started investigations on 16 April, 2020 after it received complaints that some politicians and public officers took advantage of the process to recruit some people that were not qualified.
Presenting the report on Wednesday, Matemba said the investigation interviewed several parties, including 77 candidates, even those that were in remote areas.
According to Matemba, 533 candidates were invited for interviews by MRA, 487 attended the interviews and the authority selected 125 candidates as successful.
He says a list of 125 candidates was then sent to National Intelligence Service for vetting.
MRA felt that it was taking time and went ahead to offer jobs to some candidates prior to the vetting results.
Out of the 125 candidates, 71 names which were not on the list of the successful candidates were offered jobs.
“They found their way on second list without merit,” Matemba said.
Another finding is that NIS was not supposed to be vetting, according to the law.
“Customs and revenue posts are not supposed to verted by NIS,” he said.
“Some of the questions that were being asked were inappropriate. They were; if the candidates had any connection with the ruling party, their origin, with the idea to kick out some on the list, and the issue of tribe,” he said.
Matemba said they have recommended that only candidates that made their way into the 125 on merit should be recruited.
He added that they have also recommended to Office of the President and Cabinet to ensure that such mess should not resurface in the near future.
ACB has also found that two senior officers at MRA breached procedural requirements and abused their offices.
Matemba added that Julius Makondetsa, who sued the ACB for blocking the recruits from starting their job, was not on the list of those who were supposed to be offered jobs.