Malawian anti-graft drive may lack will and capacity

Significance

Similar initiatives across Africa have been undermined by leaders’ reluctance to operate through official anti-corruption institutions and instead to preside over more ad-hoc processes. This has increased their ability to act quickly but has also led to criticism of politically manipulated and motivated investigations.

Impacts

• Donor funding to support anti-graft bodies will have limited effect if they are not made politically independent.
• The failure to institutionalise anti-graft activities effectively means that they will continue to be often seen as politicised witch-hunts.
• In the absence of effective anti-graft strategies, economic growth will struggle to keep up with population growth in Kenya and Malawi.