Treasury has conceded that absence of Institution Integrity Committee (ICC) is negatively contributing to a rise in corrupt practices within the Ministry.
Director of Administration in the Ministry of Finance Fumbani Sichinga admitted this during an interface with the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee in Lilongwe.
According to Sichinga, despite that the Integrity Committee was established in 2019 within the Ministry, it has been non-functional due to coronavirus pandemic and transfers of some staff members in the Ministry.
He said: “Yes I believe, it should have contributed, am sure if we had the ICC in place, it could probably look at some of the systems that could have been strengthened and could probably prevented the occurrence that took place in the Ministry.”
Speaking during the same meeting, Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Martha Chizuma regretted that some of the vices could have been prevented had it been that the instituted Integrity Committee was functioning within Treasury including all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“It’s a big concern, but not only on Ministry for Finance but all the MDAs that were summoned before the Legal Affairs Committee this week that are not doing anything on their ICC because these ICCs are supposed to implement the anti-corruption activities within their institutions
“So, the absence of the ICCs has had a very negative impact on anti-corruption fight in the country as a general because these Committees are supposed to streamline the anti-corruption activities within their institutions,” lamented Chizuma.
Commenting on the development, Chairperson for Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament Peter Dimba said his committee will summon officials from Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) for action on MDAs that are not implementing the Anti-Corruption Policy.
“The Committee is worried that the dormancy of the ICCs within finance ministry would probably lead to more incidences of corruption and fraud, we have to discuss with OPC and ACB to see what we can do to controlling officers that are failing to comply with this requirement,” Dimba said.
The establishment of IICs was as a result of outcomes of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), 2008-2013. The IIC is in charge of promoting anti-corruption measures in MDAs.
However, process of establishing IICs has been on going, with more than 80 IICs established by early 2019, mostly in the public sector, that is according to NACS II 2019-2024.
