The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has attributed growing corruption in government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to lack of commitment by controlling officers to curb the vice.

Speaking yesterday in Zomba during the opening of a two-day workshop for members of Blantyre Water Board (BWB) Institutional Integrity Committee (IIC), ACB principal corruption prevention officer Patrick Mogha said controlling officers in some MDAs dilly-dally to institutionalise mainstream anti-corruption initiatives purportedly to frustrate the corruption fight.

He said: “Corruption continues to pose serious challenges for the attainment of government’s developmental agenda.

“The issue is about the ownership. You know the fight against corruption cannot be won by the bureau alone that is why we would want to mainstream the fight against corruption to all institutions so that they own the fight.”

Mogha said the water sector is one of the catalysts to national development and needs to be properly monitored and regulated to avoid compromising standards.

“Corruption in the water sector must not be tolerated at all cost as it directly poses a threat to lives of the consumers. It is imperative therefore that consumer welfare is not compromised,” he said.

In an interview on the sidelines of the training workshop, BWB Kabula Zone manager Bright Mziliwanda said the board is committed to fight corruption as demonstrated by the formation of the IIC.

However, he could not quantify the extent of corruption at the water utility body.

“What it means as an institution is we are losing a lot of money through corruption and because of that, we are failing to meet the demands of people around Blantyre,” Mziliwanda said.

Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet Janet Banda is on record as having said government is facing an uphill task to tame corruption because the vice has become a culture in most people’s lives.

She observed that corruption is deep-rooted in most MDAs, civil society organistions as well as the private sector such that sometimes people indulge in it unknowingly.

Banda warned that the Office of the President and Cabinet would take action against MDAs that were yet to establish IICs, saying the corruption fight in the country needs joint efforts by both public and private sector institutions if Malawi is to win against the vice.

Banda, Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba and Minister of Information and Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu were not available for comment yesterday.

On the other hand, during a big walk organised by IICs from Blantyre-based MDAs to raise awareness on the evils of corruption last November, ACB director general Martha Chizuma said Malawians are tired of corruption.

She vowed to fight any person found indulging in the vice regardless of their political affiliation or status in the society.

In July last year, President Lazarus Chakwera stressed the need for a new anti-corruption approach that demanded relevant institutions and duty-bearers to work together to sustain the fight against the vice.

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