Opinion by Rick Dzida
Currently trending in the social media and legal fraternity is the celebrated lawyer Alexious Kamangila popularly dubbed Mng’aluri 1, Mbudula , Minister of justice and Director of ACB for his audacious stand against rampant corruption in the Malawi Judiciary.
Truth be told, bribery, embezzlement, nepotism, abuse of power and political corruption have taken centre stage in the incumbent Chakwera government permeating all public sectors thereby plunging the Malawi’s Transparency 2023 corruption perception index to 34.
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In fact, many research studies have cited a litany of root causes of corruption in Malawi such as greed, poverty, lack of transparency, low salaries, lack of political will, widening socio-economic inequalities and power imbalances.
Regardless of any root causes of corruption, this vice is frankly derailing Malawi’s progress. Alexious is therefore justified to fearlessly expose the rotten rampant corruption in the Malawi Judiciary as consequently gleaned from his Facebook statement, “We need to end corruption in the justice system”.
Unfortunately, it is insurmountable for one person like Alexious to singlehandedly fight against deep rooted networked system of corruption in Malawi. This is why he needs the moral, investigative and financial support of many patriotic Malawians to this noble cause.
In fact, following his Facebook page, Alexious is meticulously calling for the support of Public Affairs Committee (PAC), religious leaders, human rights activists, journalists, insurance companies, commercial banks and all patriotic Malawians at large to eradicate this diabolical corruption in Malawi.
The adverse effects of corruption in Malawi cannot be grossly overemphasised. Money and government resources meant for socio-economic and infrastructural development land in the hands of a few networked and privileged Malawians.
It is pathetic to note that corruption is rampant at the time when deserving students drop out of school due to unaffordable fees as government grants and bursaries are accessible to few learners.
While the elite are swimming in the delicacies of corruption, many Malawians continue to lose their precious lives due to unavailability of essential drugs in public hospitals.
Navigating on our road network, one is baffled at its substandard quality of construction because contracts are primarily awarded to such companies that are politically connected to the current regime.
It is sad to note that food insecurity has reached a pathetic level such that Malawi has started registering preventable deaths due to hunger and malnourishment.
Needless to mention that there is ample evidence to ascertain that corrupt practices have compromised the delivery of public services. For instance, one needs to bribe a public officer to expeditiously access a driver licence or a new passport.
According to Alexious Kamangira’s, the underprivileged Malawians spend years in jail before they are tried before they are tried by a competent court of law. On the contrary such court delays benefit the elite as they remain on bail indefinitely. These are just a small cross-section of excruciating pangs of corrupt practices in Malawi.
In conclusion, it is highly recommended that every bonafide citizen of Malawi must take full responsibility to take the role of a whistleblower in waging war against corruption. In fact, Malawi is in dire of a litany of Kamangilas who can fearlessly fight corrupt practices from various professional perspectives such as lawyers, investigators, legislators, researchers and journalists just to mention a few.
The false promise of making ACB independent from political interference by any political party must not be entertained at all cost from now on. It is highly imperative that the Director General of ACB must report to the National Assembly.
The National Assembly must assert itself by vigilantly providing checks and balances on the other arms of government vis a vis the Executive and the Judiciary.
It is also of paramount importance to reduce presidential powers.
Human rights activists, PAC, donor partners, legislature, Civil society organisations, private sector and all patriotic Malawians must speak with one voice to eradicate corruption in Malawi.
