These are committees whose key functions are to promote ethical conduct and integrity at institutional level as well as help in the prevention of corruption both in the public sector.

According to the 2022-2023 Institutional Integrity Committees Compliance Monitoring Report by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), out of 97 government ministries, departments and agencies monitored, only 34 percent met quarterly to strategize and review progress of their work as required.

Despite the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II mandating the IICs to develop and implement anti-corruption action plans, the exercise revealed that 35 percent of the IICs did not have any plans. It also established that many IICs performed poorly in many other areas.

Ironically, one of the institutions that did not do well is the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) which is mandated to oversee procurement issues in the public service.

During a recent appearance before the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, PPDA Director General Edington Chilapondwa admitted that his institution’s IIC performed poorly but attributed this to competing priorities and limited staff among other challenges.

He, however, assured the committee that the performance will improve in the 2024-2025 financial year since a new IIC has been put in place and that the institution has migrated most of its activities to digital.

“We have taken action; we have replaced the committee with a new one which is very active and we believe when ACB comes again to assess us, PPDA will score very well,” said Chilapondwa.

Legal Affairs committee of Parliament chairperson Peter Dimba said the committee is worried with the poor performance of most of the IICs, describing the situation as a threat to the fight against corruption in the country.

“PPDA is not an ordinary institution in as far as fight against corruption is concerned because it oversees all the procurement [processes] in government that is why we impressed on them to do better because once they do better, it could have a multiplier effect on the rest of the MDAs,” said Dimba.

National Anti-Corruption Alliance chairperson Moses Mkandawire says the country needs to strengthen such committees if the battle against corruption is to be won.

“Integrity should be one of the areas to focus in the fight against corruption because we have done investigations, we’ve done the prosecutions, and ligations but how many people are we going to arrest?

How many prisons do we have? Let’s also consider the costs,” said Mkandawire.

Ethics and integrity are fundamental pillars of public service. They ensure that public servants act in the best interests of the public they serve, using resources responsibly and fairly. Ethical conduct builds trust in government and fosters a sense of accountability.