CATHOLIC COMMISSION FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE THE PREVAILING SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN MALAWI: A CRITICAL INTROSPECTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
It is undeniable that Malawi is presently at a crossroads owing to the undesirable situation in
various spheres of public life. The socio-economic reality encountered by the majority of
Malawians is quite appalling and the state of political governance and human rights is regrettably
pathetic and deplorable. This is happening while the political leadership seems to have abrogated
its obligatory mandate to safeguard the common good and drive the national agenda for the
realisation of the much-touted inclusive development as stipulated by the Malawi 2063 aspiration.
It is unfortunate, saddening and ironic that a government that incessantly claims to be driven and
anchored by the tenets of the rule of law, ending corruption, unity of purpose, servant leadership
and focus on the less privileged has clearly deviated from its own principles of governing a
democratic polity. The country’s leadership has clearly lost direction on how to manage what can
reasonably and justifiably be described as a country in a crisis. In other words, Malawi is quickly
turning into a failed state; the indicators are so vivid in the eyes of many, perhaps except the
country’s leadership itself.
2.0 GOVERNMENT’S LUKEWARM APPROACH TO CURB CORRUPTION: NOCMA
SCANDAL AND THE DEAFENING SILENCE FROM THE POLITICAL
LEADERSHIP
Corruption remains one of the insurmountable challenges to President Lazarus Chakwera led
government. It is a serious human rights and development obstacle which is thriving unabated due
to a number of institutional inadequacies. It is important to note that the current political regime
has lived up to its promise to empower the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and to create or
establish a special court to aid in fighting against the vice. This has been done through the
amendment of the Corrupt Practices Act to remove the ACB’s seeking of consent from the office
of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) when investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.
The amended legislation has also created the Economic and Financial Crimes Court to speed up
prosecution of corruption cases. Further, the institutional support to the ACB through the
recruitment of 17 additional prosecutors (lawyers) and 19 investigators is another welcome
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development. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) duly commend the
government for these strides.
However, political meddling remains the biggest challenge faced by the graft busting body in its
operations. Although the ACB appears relatively independent, there is underground political
interference in the Bureau’s handling of corruption cases involving politically exposed persons. It
is in the public domain that the ACB is not handling corruption cases involving certain political
personalities connected to President Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in spite of the fact
that grave allegations of the vice have been leveled against such political figures. The ACB’s
arresting and eventual charging of the Republican Vice President, Saulosi Chilima, in November
2022, for alleged corrupt dealings with businessman Zuneth Sattar, may be lauded as a progressive
action in the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, the citizenry expects much more arrests and
prosecution of a number of politically connected people. The public perception is that certain
politicians are being shielded by the political establishment.
REVELATIONS OF CORRUPT DEALS AT NOCMA
The recent revelations of institutionalised and entrenched grand corruption at the National Oil
Company of Malawi (NOCMA), made by the company’s former CEO Ms. Hellen Buluma, in her
engagement with the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament, are indicative of a
serious and systemic scheme of the vice which refuses to die in this country. It is clear that rentseeking, bribery, nepotism and favouritism are rife in the management and procurement of
petroleum products in Malawi and high level politicians are beneficiaries of this corruption
scheme. The failure of President Chakwera to comment or take action on such revelations, which
connected high profile people in his government including the Secretary to the Office of the
President and Cabinet (Ms. Colleen Zamba), demonstrates lack of political will and leadership in
dealing with grand corruption in the country. This posture by the State President does not augur
well with his official or public speeches in which he purportedly claims to be a champion of the
anti-corruption fight.
THE ARREST OF THE ACB DIRECTOR GENERAL, MARTHA CHIZUMA, OVER
POLITICALLY MOTIVATED CHARGES
CCJP is dismayed and disturbed by the actions of the Malawi Police Service (MPS) to arrest the
Director General of the ACB, Ms. Martha Chizuma, on 6th December 2022 on charges bordering
on making use of an audio clip, which would prejudice judicial proceedings in a corruption case
involving high profile government officials and a businessman Kumar Sreedharan (popularly
known as Ashok Nair), a business associate of Zuneth Sattar. The conduct of the police officers to
arrest Ms. Chizuma is suspicious as the national political leadership dismissed this matter earlier
in the year when similar attempts to arrest her were made over the same issue of the audio clip.
Her arrest, under dubious and suspicious circumstances, characterised by unusual and strange
statements or pronouncements from key government ministries (Ministry of Justice and
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Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Homeland Security and Ministry of Information and
Digitalisation), points to a state of legal and institutional quandary in the fight against corruption.
It is clear that the actions of the government in this arrest are bent towards frustrating the functions
of the ACB and its Director General. The undesirable circumstances surrounding Ms. Chizuma’s
arrest also indicate a lack of effective coordination and collaboration among appropriate state
organs in combating the vice. It is clear that the arrest was directed and facilitated by the Director
of Public Prosecutions who was later suspended by President Chakwera in a dramatic spectacle.
Nonetheless, it is mind boggling that the State President and his ministers of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs and Homeland Security denied having knowledge of the planned arrest of
such a high-profile personality as the ACB Director General. It is important for Malawians to
remember that at some point President Chakwera has been a fervent and loud critic of the ACB
leadership while at times he has demonstrated his support for the Director General in public or
official speeches. Effectively, this creates uncertainty and doubts over his full support to the battle
against corruption in the country.
In spite of all the challenges the ACB is facing, including the most recent terrible incident, CCJP
calls upon the Bureau and encourage it to take concrete and swift action, without fear or favour,
against anybody suspected to be involved in looting of public resources. The anti-corruption
agency should not be destructed by the arrest of its Director General but engage an extra gear in
this noble cause to which the people of Malawi fully rally behind.
In is worth noting that the inhumane and degrading fashion in which the arrest was effected in the
wee hours of 6th December 2022 displayed the police officers’ lack of professionalism and
disregard for human rights and minimum policing standards. Facts and evidence about the arrest
indicate that the police officers involved got orders from high level political authorities. The
circumstances under which she was arrested at her home and eventually charged at Namitete Police
point to in which she was dragged out of her home and if what we have heard about what she was
asked to do by the police when giving her statement at Namitete Police Post point to elements of
police brutality. Additionally, the reported conduct of the police officers smacks of abuse and
misuse of the police service by those in political authority. Surely Malawians would not want to
be reminded of dark, gloomy and brutal days of the one party political dispensation where human
rights observance was non-existent in an era the police was used as an apparatus to silence political
dissidents.
3.0 INADEQUATE AND INEFFECTIVE PROTECTION OF ELDERLY PEOPLE AMID
GRAVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Elderly people in Malawi live in fear as their lives are always in danger. This is the reality of the
majority of older men and women especially those who live in rural areas. Older persons continue
to be victims of witchcraft-based violence and other grave human rights violations and abuses.
While cases of victimisation of older women and men are on the rise, there are no noticeable or concrete steps by the Government in addressing and remedying this critical human rights problem.
The latest case of assault and harassment of two elderly women in Mandala Zimba Village under
Group Village Headman Zebediah Zighili in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kampingo Sibande’s
area in Mzimba District is one of the numerous cases of violation and abuse of old people in
Malawi. It is worrisome to note that there have not been meaningful and genuine efforts to arrest
and prosecute individuals who are involved in harassing and victimising elderly people due to
witchcraft accusations. Elderly women and men lack adequate protection from the community
members and the police. Resultantly, impunity has been the order of the day as such inhumane
treatment of vulnerable adults has been normalised in the rural communities. There is urgent need
to ensure access to justice for all in order to guarantee that the older generation feels part of the
Malawi society.
It is worrisome that cases of witchcraft based violence and the baseless accusations are perpetrated
and orchestrated by traditional leaders, who are supposed to be custodians of culture and carers
and protectors of vulnerable groups within the communities. The government ought to be the
watchdog of traditional leaders to address and discourage such pitiful practices as engagement of
witchdoctors for witchcraft cleansing purposes in all corners of Malawi. In spite of the untold
suffering of older men and women based on baseless and dangerous cultural practices that promote
witchcraft based violence, the government appears to be failing to discipline traditional leaders
under whose watch these acts occur. Therefore, CCJP is calling on the government to take stern
action against such traditional and community leaders.
Besides witchcraft-based violence, elderly persons in Malawi lack basic needs and necessities. The
elderly lack reliable and adequate social protection as they do not effectively benefit from the
various social benefits programmes and initiatives implemented by the government due to
defective beneficiary identification and targeting methods. This needs to be reversed.
4.0 RESURGENCE OF ATTACKS, ABDUCTIONS AND KILLINGS OF PERSONS
WITH ALBINISM: THE EMPTY PROMISE FOR PROTECTION
The human rights violations against persons with albinism in the country are a well-documented
phenomenon since Malawi started officially recording cases of attacks, abductions and killings of
this vulnerable group around 2013/2014. Of late there has been a resurgence of the attacks,
abductions and killings the recent case being the gruesome killing of a three-year-old girl in
Kasungu district on 30th November 2022. The continuous occurrence of these human rights
violations points to some deficiencies in the existing interventions that are put up by various
stakeholders. This means that well-thought strategic interventions in spheres of security, protection
and access to justice ought to be properly and adequately devised and financed for lasting a solution
to the problem. The adoption of the National Action Plan on Persons with Albinism (2018-2022)
by the Malawi Government in 2018 is appreciated. However, there is much more to be done to arrest the resurgence of the attacks, abductions and killings of persons with albinism. It is clear
that the monster is back to haunt this vulnerable section of our society.
CCJP has observed that coordination and collaboration in the implementation of interventions
under the National Action Plan is critically problematic at the community, district and national
levels. Security for persons with albinism remains a huge challenge. Access to other services, a
human rights issue, is also a mammoth problem considering the insecurity persons with albinism
face. Besides funding for the National Action Plan being very low, the allocated funds have not
been devolved to the local councils thereby adversely affecting the implementation of
interventions by the local governments to fully protect and promote rights of persons with albinism
in Malawi. Community protection through local security structures, like Community Policing
Forums (CPFs), has also been a challenge due to poor resourcing and equipment.
5.0 CONTINUED UNCERTAINTY SURROUNDING THE AFFORDABLE INPUT
PROGRAMME AND ATTENDANT SUSPICIOUS DEALINGS
The Affordable Input Programme (AIP) is the mainstay of household and national food security
in Malawi. This is in view of the fact that lack of the exit strategy on the programme has compelled
many farming households and communities in the country to bank on this social protection
programme. The uncertainty and many challenges surrounding the implementation of the AIP
during the 2022/2023 farming season is thus a huge threat to the lives of many Malawians.
Monitoring exercises by CCJP have revealed that there have been such challenges as network
hitches, unavailability and inaccessibility of the farm input commodities in some selling depots
and poor logistical management on the supply of the commodities by the suppliers. As if these
operational challenges are not enough, Malawians recently had a rude awakening learning that the
government allegedly paid MK30 billion to a suspicious fertilizer supplier who did not supply the
commodity to the country. The admission by the government of this serious miscarriage of public
procurement procedures by stating that it was defrauded of MK750 million only is a clear
indication that there are underhand dealings and a silent organised corruption syndicate in the
management of the AIP to the detriment of poor Malawians. Clearly, the government is playing
with the lives of poor people who only have the AIP as their means of survival as a safety net in
these hard socio-economic times.
6.0 UNMANAGEABLE AND UNSUSTAINABLE GOVERNMENT DEBTS
Debt sustainability in Malawi has been a huge macroeconomic challenge for a long time. The
country has failed to control and properly manage its domestic and foreign debts and the present
government seems to be falling in the trap that successive regimes have failed to avoid. It is
important to mention that the main problem with the present political regime is that it is still
concentrating debt money towards investments into unproductive avenues amid fiscal imprudence
in many government ministries, departments and agencies. According to the projections and the
predictions by analysts and economic experts, the ratio of Malawi’s national debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is anticipated to reach 50-60 percent of GDP by the end of 2022. The
stock of debt in Malawi has increased to K6.38 trillion, which is equivalent to 62 percent of the
country’s GDP for the 2021/22 period. This represents a 13 percent increase from K5.65 trillion in
2021. Realistically, this is very unsustainable and a critical threat to the domestic economy. These
challenges are compounded by weak governance and poor quality of public administration
combined with limited fiscal space and deficient monitoring of utilisation of debt money. It has
been noted by CCJP that the Malawi Government is failing to stop the piling up of debts as its only
hope is for the lenders to write off the debts. Such governance practice on debt management only
brings about instability and uncertainties to the economy in the light of the fragility of Malawi’s
economic environment.
7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAY FORWARD
In view of the foregoing, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace recommends the
following actions:
i. That the President of the Republic of Malawi urgently takes action on the revelations
of grand corruption at NOCMA by, among other things, suspending all those connected
to the allegations from public offices.
ii. That the President should demonstrate his sincerity and genuine commitment towards
supporting the ACB and its Director General in the fight against corruption through
provision of security to the staff working for the corruption busting body.
iii. That the Malawi Human Rights Commission should expedite its investigations into the
alleged human rights violations suffered by the ACB Director General during her
morning arrest on 6th December 2022.
iv. The instituted Commission of Inquiry into the arrest of Ms. Martha Chizuma should
effectively and independently investigate the circumstances surrounding her arrest and
conclude the inquiry timely with practical remedies.
v. That the Malawi Police Service should provide adequate security to elderly persons in
the country and further ensure proper handling of the cases of harassment and
victimisation of the older men and women in the justice system.
vi. The Government should take concrete steps to discipline and mete out relevant
sanctions to traditional and community leaders who fuel witchcraft accusations.
vii. The Government, through the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and
Social Welfare, should expeditiously facilitate the tabling of the Older Persons Bill in
Parliament to provide effective security and access to justice for the elderly.
viii. Local Councils should be well financed on the implementation of the National
Action Plan on Persons with Albinism to ensure effective local level interventions to
protect persons with albinism in the country.
ix. The Malawi Police Service should consider mounting regular community patrols in
communities to safeguard the security of persons with albinism.
x. The Government should facilitate the urgent tabling of the Persons with Disabilities
Bill (2019) into law to harmonise disability legislation and also guarantee access to
justice for marginalised groups of persons with disabilities such as persons with
albinism.
xi. That, through the Ministry of Agriculture, the Government urgently addresses the
numerous challenges rocking the implementation of the AIP.
xii. The ACB should conclusively and effectively investigate and prosecute all elements of
corruption surrounding the procurement of farm inputs such as fertilizer under the 2022
AIP implementation.
xiii. The Government should ensure effective governance in the management of its
domestic and foreign debts to bring about fiscal stability to the economy. Imprudent
spending, investments in worthless economic ventures and corruption in management
of debt money should be systematically dealt with.
Issued on 7th December 2022
Boniface Chibwana CCJP National Coordinator
Joseph Kampango CCJP Coordinator, Archdiocese of Blantyre
Enock Kamundi CCJP Coordinator, Archdiocese of Lilongwe
Bruno Banda CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Mangochi
Lawrence Puliti CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Dedza
Lewis Msiyadungu CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Chikwawa
Fr. Patrick Kamba Acting CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Zomba
Felix Manda CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Mzuzu
Louis Nkhata CCJP Coordinator, Diocese of Karonga