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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has said the guiding principles for declaring assets, liabilities and business interests form the basis for controlling corruption in multiparty Malawi.
“The principle of declaration of assets, liabilities and business interest is allied to the promotion of integrity in the public service and protection of the public interest. Public trust is at the heart of the public service. Where the public interest is in conflict with private interest the public interest should always prevail,” said ACB director Justice Michael Mtegha in a statement.
Mtegha’s remarks come hard on the heels of concerns on uncertainties regarding the presentation in Parliament of the reformulated draft bill on the declaration of assets by public officials.
The ACB was involved in the formulation of the draft declaration of assets bill because of the principle along which the bureau was established “to consolidate democratic values or governance in Malawi”.
Mtegha said this week that the experience in the investigation and prevention of corrupt practices over the years was valuable to the formulation of the new legislation.
“The bureau will thus readily assist in the enforcement of the envisaged law while the same law will make it easier for the bureau to enforce the Corrupt Practices Act and some constitutional provisions. Further, the declarations [of assets] have to be verifiable, open to public scrutiny and be made periodically,” Mtegha said.
Mtegha emphasised that the institutional leadership for enforcement of the declaration of assets should remain with Parliament and that the bureau would only be involved where it is suspected that the Corrupt Practices Act has been undermined.
But he added: “Parliament was responsible for ensuring that members of Parliament were declaring their assets. Since the information declared could not be accessed, it was, therefore, difficult for the bureau to know the compliance rate”.
He said it has been clear since 1994 that public officers, other than MPs, did not fulfil the constitutional provision for declarations.
He said since Malawi attained its current multiparty dispensation in 1994 there were no modalities on how public officers were to make declarations and no sanctions were provided for to ensure compliance.
“The new legislation would, therefore, ensure that Malawians wishes, as expressed in the constitution, are fulfilled,” Mtegha said.
He said when assets are declared, a benchmark is established by which a person will be assessed when the accumulation of his or her assets has raised queries in the minds of the general public.
“It reveals that public officers have nothing to hide. Corruption flourishes in a hidden and enclosed environment. It is a secretive act between those that receive and those that give,” Mtegha said.
Uncertainty currently hangs over the presentation in Parliament of the long-awaited declaration of assets bill. The bill was expected to be presented in parliament in March.
Attorney General Peter Fatchi conceded earlier this month that he has not personally seen the draft bill which he said would also have to go through the Cabinet Committee on Legal Affairs before it goes to Parliament.
He also said the declaration of assets is provided for in the constitution “and if anything was being worked on it could not be the draft bill but the procedures for the declaration of assets”.
But in another interview, former chairman of the declaration of assets committee, Henry Mussa, said his committee already finished working on the draft bill in February.
“I can confirm that my committee in collaboration with several other stakeholders finalised working on the draft bill and it is now with the attorney general,” Mussa said.
The new draft, bill if turned into law, would require that a cross section of public officials including Cabinet ministers, MPs, civil servants up to P5 level, members of the Judiciary up to magistrate level and officials of statutory corporations, including board members, declare their assets which is not currently the case.
The draft bill also proposes the impeachment of the President if he or she does not declare his or her assets. It also proposes loss of seats for MPs and dismissal on the part of civil servants, chief executives of parastatals and their chairpersons if they don’t abide by the provision currently provided for in sections 88(3), 213(1) and 213(3) of the Constitution.
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