Africa-Press – Malawi. Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma says some of parliamentarians in the 193-strong House are corrupt. She has lamented the legislators are involved in corruption especially in the administration of constituency development fund (CDF).
Speaking at Parliament’s Anti-Corruption Day event in Lilongwe, Chizuma said the Bureau has received several complaints and is investigating such cases while some investigations have already been concluded.
She said it only shows that some legislators and some cabinet ministers have been main culprits in corruption issues or have been enablers and facilitators of the same. She has stressed that it is important for MPs to get sensitised to corruption issues and that their conduct is constantly checked.
However she said ACB is happy that Parliament made a commitment to develop and implement a code of conduct for parliamentarians. She says it is a long overdue corruption prevention instrument.
She said the MPs need to be exemplary in all their conduct if their oversight role is to be taken seriously, saying parliamentarians should set the tone and walk the talk. Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara said corruption is affecting the development of the nation.
“Corruption has done injustice to the nation, if it wasn’t for corruption Malawi could have been a developed country by now. Corruption is evil let us root it out,” she says.
According to Hara, corruption has also affected Members of Parliament. She says because of corruption, social services are affected and if there are no social services for the people Members of Parliament become the providers.
Hara has therefore called on the ACB to take Members of Parliament as ambassador for anti-corruption and as partners in the fight. “Yes, some members might be involved in corruption but Parliament is committed to fight corruption,” said Hara.
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