VZCZCXRO0492
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHLG #0101/01 0381159
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071159Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3827
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LILONGWE 000101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/S KAMANA MATHUR 
STATE FOR INR/AA RITA BYRNES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM MI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT DECLARES "TOTAL WAR ON CORRUPTION" 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: President Mutharika reaffirmed his 
commitment to the country's anti-corruption drive at 
National Anti-Corruption Day on February 5.  In a speech 
launching an anti-corruption survey, Mutharika proclaimed 
his "position against corruption is even stronger today 
than it was three years ago."  The President also lashed 
out at his political enemies, linking them with corruption 
and urging Parliament to reconsider his choice for Director 
of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).  The government also 
reported on the ACB's results from the past year and 
announced plans to develop a national strategic plan 
against corruption at the well-attended event. End Summary. 
 
"Corruption is Everywhere" 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In his speech President Mutharika admitted that 
corruption is a challenge in all facets of Malawian 
society, including the "government, the private sector, 
civil society and churches and mosques."  He specifically 
mentioned one case, among others, in which the Sheraton 
hotel chain had been deterred from investing in Malawi due 
to a demanded pay-off from an unnamed Malawian official. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mutharika also used the platform to castigate the 
opposition, accusing them of trying to block the anti-graft 
campaign.  The President singled out the Chairman of 
Parliament's Public Appointments Committee (PAC) and 
opposition MP Joseph Njobvuyalema, calling on the PAC 
chairman to explain what the committee meant when it called 
the anti-corruption nominee "qualified but unsuitable." 
PAC has rejected a number of recent presidential 
appointments, including Mutharika's pick for ACB Director, 
in closed-door sessions while refusing to explain the 
rationale for their decisions.  Mutharika vowed to nominate 
his ACB Director candidate--currently serving as the 
Bureau's Acting Director--again and accused Njobvuyalema of 
being "connected to corruption."  Failing an explanation or 
confirmation, Mutharika appealed to civil society to push 
for his dismissal. 
 
Corruption Baseline 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The government centered the 2007 National Anti- 
Corruption Day around the launch of a Governance and 
Corruption Baseline Survey which rated public perceptions 
of corruption within various government institutions. 
Among other findings, the survey, conducted largely in 
2005, reported that almost 90 percent of Malawians view 
corruption as a "serious problem" in Malawi, while 70 
percent believe that corruption has gotten worse over the 
past ten years.  Nearly 60 percent of the public says it is 
common for average citizens to bribe public officials, and 
public officials say that bribes account for over 23 
percent of their monthly salaries. 
 
¶5. (SBU) ACB Acting Director Tumalisye Ndovi also gave a 
speech in which he outlined the Bureau's successes over the 
past year, including the completion of 358 investigations 
resulting in 17 convictions, with 60 cases remaining at 
various stages in the judicial process.  Ndovi vowed to 
leave "no stone unturned" in the war against corruption, 
which, he said, has "no time limit" and urged Malawians to 
come forward with reports if they encounter corrupt 
officials.  Additionally, representatives from the 
executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, 
civil society, the business community, donors and 
traditional chiefs signed an Anti-Corruption Declaration 
outlining their respective commitments to fighting graft. 
 
¶6. (U) The ACB, which commissioned the survey along with 
the British Government, plans to follow up the launch with 
a series of regional workshops on corruption throughout 
Malawi. The ACB then plans on developing a national 
Strategic Plan Against Corruption, laying out the GOM's 
strategy for combating corruption in both the private and 
public sectors.  Representatives of the private sector and 
civil society also announced initiatives to combat 
corruption, including a new business code of conduct. 
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Bazuka 
Mhango used his speech to decry corruption in civil 
society, saying that NGOs were "public sector" 
organizations who should be accountable to their 
beneficiaries, not only to their benefactors and those who 
make a living within them. 
 
Comment 
 
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¶7. (SBU) Mutharika used the day's event to try and put the 
focus back on Malawi's anti-corruption campaign -- a 
centerpiece of his presidency -- but an area where 
commitment seemed to slack following last year's 
controversy over the one-day arrest and questioning of 
former President Muluzi, and the resultant removal of the 
ACB Director for arresting him then the Director of Public 
Prosecutions for dismissing the charges shortly thereafter. 
As Mutharika admitted in his remarks, corruption, though 
certainly less widespread than it was at the peak of abuse 
under Muluzi, remains a major problem in Malawi.  Large 
scale corruption, especially involving outside investors, 
hampers the President's ambitious economic development 
program.  Small scale corruption corrodes respect for 
government and its institutions; as several speakers 
prominently noted, Parliament and the political parties in 
Malawi are low-rated in the corruption survey.  Thus the 
intention to redouble efforts against corruption and renew 
the focus on the campaign against graft is laudable -- if 
there is follow-through aside from donor-funded workshops. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) It is now clear that the politicization of the 
anti-corruption program is complete.  This is not to say 
that the administration uses anti-corruption as a political 
weapon; there have been no retaliatory or pre-emptive 
arrests on trumped-up corruption charges, nor trumpeted 
frivolous charges that mysteriously go away (This is not to 
say there are no politically motivated prosecutions in 
Malawi  --  for example, the current treason case against 
the Vice president and a half dozen more we could name -- 
but anti corruption legi{lation and institutions have not 
so far been used extensively in this way).  Instead, the 
problem in 2005 was Malawi's paralyzed political system, 
which seems incapable of addressing this question without a 
long process of calculation among the leaders, in which 
they seek to predict the effect of action on corruption on 
the relative balance of the three major political forces in 
the National Assembly, and more importantly on their 
chances to assume the Presidency in the 2009 election.  On 
its party, the government has a "with us or against us" 
attitude.  Since dhe campaign against corruption represents 
a potent political tool for the government, the opposition 
is extremely wary of the effort overall.  On the one hand 
they do not wish to give Bingu any more tools than he 
already has which could be used against them for misdeeds 
real or imagined.  Nor do the opposition leaders wish to 
open themselves up to charges that they are pro-corruption. 
This delicate balancing leads to lots of rhetoric and 
innuendo thrown back and forth but little concrete action. 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) At the moment, the focus of this calculation of 
relative standing is on the anti-corruption bureau (and 
other public appointments).  In addition to the rejection 
of Mutharika's ACB Director candidate, PAC has rejected 
presidential nominations for Inspector General of the 
Police, Director of Public Prosecutions, and several of 
diplomatic appointments.  Committee chairman Njobvuyalema, 
who is a Malawi Congress Party M.P., has repeatedly 
asserted that his committee has no/no responsibility to 
explain its decisions, nor to open up their meetings to the 
public.  Mutharika has been equally stubborn, often 
rejecting PAC's decisions and nominating the same candidate 
again while appointing them to "acting" status, as with Mr. 
Ndovi, or to a position not requiring parliamentary assent. 
This has resulted in an increasing number of important 
government positions at home and abroad going unfilled, or 
being filled through questionable measures (i.e., extended 
"temporary" appointments). With no end to the standoff in 
sight, the quarrel between the President and the Committee 
Chair should be a key issue during the next session of 
Parliament in late February. 
 
 
EASTHAM