Malawi - November 2022

On 25 November, Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested the country’s Vice-President, Saulos Chilima, charging him with taking $280,000 (USD) in bribes from British businessman, Zuneth Sattar, who is jointly being investigated for corruption by the ACB and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency. Chilima was stripped of his powers by President Lazarus Chakwera in June 2022 after Chilima was first implicated in the Sattar corruption scandal. The charges come at a time when a majority of Malawians perceive corruption to be getting worse and analysts have indicated that they are likely to be broadly supportive of legal proceedings against the Vice-President. However, some commentators have suggested that the prosecution may be politically motivated, and therefore signals not an improvement in Malawi’s fight against corruption but rather tensions between Chakwera and Chilima and their respective political parties, which are part of the ruling coalition, the Tonse Alliance. Chilima is not the only senior official being prosecuted for corruption, with a former cabinet minister and several high-ranking civil servants reported to be amongst the ACB’s recent indictees.

Sources: Anti-Corruption Bureau Malawi, Chatham House, Mail & Guardian, Afrobarometer, British Broadcasting Corporation, The Washington Post, The Nation