Caveat: We do not have the full facts on the so-called
Capital hill cash-gate. It is a fast moving story and one would be well advised
to withhold their judgment at this point. If there is anything that the Chasowa
tragicomedy and the Mphwiyo-still-unraveling saga teaches us, then it’s that in
Malawi, there is always more than meets the eye. However, there is still
something that can be said about the unfolding drama even at this nascent
stage.
Are
we really surprised?
We shouldn't really be surprised with
what is allegedly going on at Capital hill. Folks in Malawi have been
shamelessly thieving for so long. Didn't the former Chief Public Prosecutor
once go on record that close to a third of public resources are lost to graft
in this country? We all know of people who are living in upscale suburbs in our
cities and who have their children at expensive private schools; stuff they
naturally can’t afford on their paper
civil service salaries. It is common knowledge, isn't it, that the majority of
people stick around the civil service, despite the ludicrously low wages,
because of allowances and other
freebies. No one has bothered to do anything about it. We all know of
politicians who couldn't even afford a decent pair of pata pata just a few months before their ministerial appointment. These
days, however, they send their mistresses to opulent capitals of the west for
their vacation and shopping. So a culture of thieving is something which is
entrenched in the public service.
Is
it not something we accept?
Since we have had public looting for so
long and have done so little to address it, wouldn't it be a fair charge that
we have all been corporately complicit in the larceny of our own resources? Surely
we have. If not by active encouragement then certainly by our muteness and
passive acquiescence. Walk to the gates of Sanjika Palace whenever President
Banda is in residence. You will see scores and scores of people waiting by the
entrance for alms from the President. How much do we pay our President to expect
her to engage in such kind of largesse? You see in Malawi, the President is
also supposed to be the nation’s supreme benefactor. She is expected to have
all the money to meet everyone’s insatiable demand. And it’s not just the
President who bears this burden of expectation, really. Ministers and members
of parliament too. They are somehow expected to provide coffins for every dead constituent
and to pay school fees for every orphan in their areas. Never mind their job
description and importantly, never mind how much they draw from the public
kitty as their paper emoluments. By putting
these unreasonable, unrealistic and immoral financial demands on our leaders,
we unwittingly push them into unorthodox means of raising money. We must get rid of this parasitism. Habitual begging,
especially where it is accompanied by the imposition of a burden of obligation
on the benefactor, is no less objectionable than the benefactor resorting to
criminal behavior to meet the obligation.
Fighting
corruption is a bloody duel…
As I write this, am told that the MDF
has deployed its personnel to look for ‘looted funds’ in our capital city’s
markets! Of course, there may be a bit of exaggeration here. But with respect,
a lot of what am seeing in response to the so called capital hill cash-gate is
knee jerk. It’s not methodical enough. [Am actually surprised that some were ‘caught’
with huge sums of money in their car-boots. Well, it’s either they are not
thieves at all or they are so green at the game it’s embarrassing!]
The starting point here is that we
already have institutions that are supposed to be fighting graft in the
country. These include the National Audit Office, the Anti-Corruption Bureau and
the Malawi Police Service [which has a specialized department dealing with “fiscal
crime”] and of course the top prosecutor. If there has been larceny on a scale
suggested by reports on social media, and that’s still an “If” at this point,
then it would mean that these sleuths have been caught napping on the job. Any investigation
into the looting of public funds should of necessity also extend to why these bodies
weren’t able to pick up these malpractices earlier and do something about it. All
of us will of course have to wait for the results of this investigation. But there
are some things which we already know and which we can confidently say
something about.
Firstly, the underworld of white collar
crime is sophisticated and possesses a potent ability to repel the forces of good;
criminal investigators, prosecutors and courts. The fight against corruption is
a bloody duel. No one should attempt it unless they are convinced that they are
up to the task. Our avowed commitment to tackling corruption and theft of
public resources should be matched with action. The ACB and Fiscal Police
should be funded in such a way that paucity of resources does not stand in the
way of their success. They should have the most reliable cars, the fastest
computers and the best brains on the market if they are to succeed. Look,
criminals have moved on. Gone are the days when people had to forge cheques to
steal. These days, a computer nerd only has to sit in his bedroom with a laptop
that has a decent Wi-fi connectivity to steal without a trace, millions of kwachas
of public funds funds. These kinds of crooks cannot be fought with colonial-era
issued riffles and baton sticks. This new threat cannot be met with brawns but
brains. Of course, these are brains that are highly sought after. It would be naïve
for anyone to expect them to work for the police or the audit office or the ACB
if they are paid a pittance. If we are serious about fighting graft, we need to
put money where our mouths are.
To
be continued…
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