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Ombudsman Grace Malera speaking during the event
The Office of the Ombudsman in Malawi, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Malawi School of Government (MSG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at enhancing their partnership in the fight against corruption through entrenchment of ethical conduct in the public service.
Speaking during the event, Ombudsman Grace Malera described the signing of the MoU as a milestone adding that Maladministration, which is the focus area for her office, is closely linked to the rise in Corruption.
Malera also said it is good to have institutions come together on matters of mutual interest like the fight against corruption, stating that the interagency cooperation is something that should be emulated by others.
“We cannot overemphasize the importance of formalizing the partnership among our institutions through the signing of the MoU. I know a lot of initiatives that suffered natural deaths because they were not formalized, so this today is a step in the right direction,” she said.
The Ombudsman also emphasized the need for such initiatives to outlive heads of particular institutions for purposes of institutional memory and the greater good of the nation.
Honorable Malera reiterated that there are several areas where the respective mandates of her office, the ACB and MSG intersect.
“You can completely separate issues of maladministration and issues of administrative justice from matters of corruption, indeed for every misprocurement to happen; for every misallocation of funds and poor quality of service delivery that we see, usually there are officers that behaved in an unethical manner,” she explained.
The Ombudsman emphasized that before people see the grand corruption noticeable in the public, there are all manner of maladministration underneath.
The MOU was signed by Honorable Malera, MSG Director General, Dr Asiyati Chiweza, and CB Director General, Ms. Martha Chizuma.
And on her part Chizuma challenged that the time to condone corruption is over.
One immediate area where the MOU will be applied is with regard to the strengthening of the work of Institutional Integrity Committees in government Ministries, Departments and Institutions.
Source: The Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Malawi
