A renowned anti-corruption advocacy group has conferred on President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera with Anti Corruption Award for his unrelenting efforts in fighting corruption in the country since he assumed office in 2020.
The group, Unashamedly Ethical, presented the award to the Malawi leader during the opening ceremony of a two-day Global Leadership Summit underway in Lilongwe.
Unashamedly Ethical is a global movement of individuals and organizations guided by a founding vision to transform society by taking a stand for ethics, values and clean living.
Presenting the award Boshoff Grobler singled out President Chakwera as a leader who is standing on truth to fight corruption through reorientation of systems and capacitating of agencies through financial, legislative and moral support.
Since he came to power, President Chakwera has enhanced the capacity of state institutions such as the Judiciary, Anti Corruption Bureau and the Department of Public Prosecutions with financial, human and operational resources.
The graft-busting body, Anti Corruption Bureau, has been the centre of capacity building because it is the one fronted to directly lead the fight.
President Chakwera’s government has increased funding to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) over the past two years to ensure that the fight against the vice is won at all levels.
When President Lazarus Chakwera came to power in 2020, staffing levels at the graft-busting body was at 150 against a full complement of 287. That level has increased to 225 now.
The bureau’s budget has risen to K6.3 billion this year from K4.3 billion two years ago, representing slightly over 50% upward adjustment. With this level of support, the ACB is now investigating over 300 cases but with very minimal output to show for it.
Not long ago, Treasury also gave the bureau K400 million for it to hire competent lawyers from private practice for high profile corruption cases.
ACB has also received support from the legislative point of view. Last year, President Chakwera assented to the Corrupt Practices Amendment Bill, giving more freedom to ACB director in prosecuting corruption suspects.
These are some of the notable efforts by the President that have persuaded stakeholders both at home and abroad to shower him with commensurate praises.