This has been a red flag that has for long been neglected, because empires and criminal enterprises thrive in such situations, like what happened with the infamous Cashgate, where billions of taxpayers’ money were syphoned by chains of personal connections.

We have established that many times, favors that people exchange have far-reaching consequences, as some decides that they should return that favor at any cost, which is why culprits are ignored and go unreported, not because people do not know that their actions amount to corruption, but because they just have to return the favor given to them.

More often, considering that corruption is mainly done in high places, it can be concluded that this is as a result of lack of ethics and integrity in the public sector.

Our investigation has revealed that despite that government introduced Institution Integrity Committees (ICCs) to monitor anti-corruption interventions, and that most ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have them, corruption continues to gain momentum.

A look into some ministries specifically those of gender, local government, trade, labor and health revealed that there are no specific contact persons, and that they are not publicized.

In all these ministries, spokespersons kept extending time to consult or referring us to other people within their systems, with a former chairperson of the labor ministry revealing that since he relinquished leadership two years ago, he has never heard about the committee again.

“I chaired the committee until two years ago but I do not know whether it exists. The main challenge is the lack of management support. There’s no support towards the committee. The law says that 1 percent of the ORT should be directed towards management of the committees, but this is not what happens.

“Another challenge is high turnover of principal secretaries because each one of them, who usually do stay for a short period at a ministry, have varying policies to prioritize, despite strategic plans that there might be. Imagine that a strategic plan drawn before I left is yet to be launched, so political will is another challenge here,” he added.

According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), there’s a need for compliance of ICCs policy, where members should be capacitated, but what is coming out is that the issue is not receiving the seriousness it deserves, leading to people taking advantage and do as they please.

Many times, an aspect of corruption involving friends, relatives, neighbors and people that at some point assisted each other is neglected. More often, people with personal connections tend to shield each other when one goes wrong, and that is exactly what happens in offices. Corruption is growing because people shield one another because of the kind of friendships, like the unfair and irregular recruitments at the office of President and Cabinet, in the public service and ministries.

 The graft-busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) spokesperson Egrita Ndala said that this is why Institutional Integrity Committees were established, and are monitored annually, to see progress of anti-corruption interventions.

For Jones Kalimba who works in one of the ministries, it makes sense to return favors. He said that one does not make it in life without someone assisting them, for example getting employed or financially assisted to get out of a problem, offered employment or employed for example.

“I had been job-hunting for a many years after graduating, but I couldn’t find one. In 2021, through political activities on the run-up to the 2019 elections, we were promised we could be offered jobs. Fast-forward now, I have a well-paying job that even if it wasn’t, I would let go. Now put yourself in my shoes, would the person who offered you an opportunity be like a god to you?’ said Kalimba.

Similarly, Jennie Khola from a certain agency said that an intimate friendship with one of the bosses in exchange for a promotion is an opportunity she could not resist. However, things took a dive when a proposal to sign documents came from the boss, which if she turned down, would cost her the job.

“Considering the benefits in my position and the job itself, I signed despite knowing that my boss wanted to syphon money. But where would I get another job these days if I refused and got fired. I knew it is wrong, but what could I do?” she said.

The ACB spokesperson said that this is all just about change of mindset, because some feel that it is not their business, or that it is imperative to return a favor, which is what the ICCs are meant to address.

For the Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT), through its executive director Willie Kambwandira, citizens play a very critical role in as far as fighting corruption is concerned.

“We must realize that our friendships have huge potential to increase the harm, if we shield each other because we come from the same area or district, are related, friends or were assisted by a culprit, and cannot report any of their wrongdoing. This is one of the elements that is lacking in our case, and as a result, citizens hide cases, making it impossible for crime exposure,” he said.

He added, “Citizens have this responsibility to ensure accountability, because we cannot have public institutions be a breeding ground for corrupt practices.”

Another governance expert Victor Chipofya said that there should be a way to strengthen these ICCs so that awareness interventions should be enhanced to change what he called “scratch my back, I scratch yours” syndrome, which is creating syndicates in the public service.

“Whatever positions we have in the society; we can use that to influence change. That is without considering specific exceptions because of the benefits we shared among each other, be it at village, church and professional levels! It happens everywhere, and it is thus incumbent upon ourselves to change our way of thinking to save the taxpayers money and improve service delivery,” he said.

A junior traffic police officer in the Malawi Police Service Kenneth Kalua said it is surprising that people want to amass wealth they can never finish or ever hide without people noticing and wondering where it all came from for various reasons.

“Imagine me owning mansions, a fleet of vehicles and living large within the two years I have been in service, but also on this position! Imagine me promoted to senior position in that time. It attracts questions and people will start to want to know how and from where that wealth is coming from. You know, it is easy to know from people’s lifestyles that something is wrong,” said Kalua.

He finished by saying that “the problem now is that people want to please each other, you know using a ‘scratch by back so I scratch yours’ way of live. That is where we all go wrong because we always want to give or pay back.”

The ACB says ICCs are key to fight corruption from within the organization. However, there is a dire need for increased capacity of the ICCs to investigating skills and monitoring service delivery.