Malawi grappled with the fight against corruption in 2025 with no clear direction taken, and now fear is emerging of it worsening in 2026 if mere rhetorics do not turn into actions.
Though profile corruption cases entered in courtrooms, a substantial number of suspects however, earned bail and that was only the case.
Others however argued, that was the case due to the complexity of corruption as being more structural.
For instance, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) continued operating without a fully recruited Director General and this was since the former boss Martha Chizuma left the institution a year before.
Despite the bureau being headed by an Acting DG Hilary Chilomba, it struggled with little funding and its independence was a bit questionable.
Nonetheless, the ACB facilitated profile cases like of Joseph Mwanamveka who was in January arrested in connection to the alleged fraud of over 440 million kwacha at Greenbelt Authority revealed in a 2023 Audit report at Salima Sugar Company.
He was arrested alongside other senior DPP officials such as Collins Magalasi, and Cliff Chiunda. Fate had it, all these suspects are now holding key government positions with court bails in their pockets.
It followed their party’s victory on 16 September elections.
This was not the only case which Mwanamveka who is now the minister of finance answered in the year, because him alongside UTM president Dalitso Kabambe and Chiunda were accused of conspiracy to use public office for personal advantage and money laundering.
They were facing accusations related to the alleged abuse of 11.4 billion kwacha in Covid19 funds.
The year 2025 also started as a nightmare to the current Minister of State Alfred Gangata who spent two days in custody for allegedly uttering a false document purportedly from Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on tax records.
He however pleaded not guilty to four charges of falsifying tax records, forgery, uttering a false document and concluding a transaction without a tax clearance certificate.
According to the charge sheet, Gangata, between July 2017 and June 2018, allegedly prepared and used a falsified tax clearance certificate bearing the name Alfred Ruwani Gangata trading as Master Security Services to meet the bidding process requirement advertised by Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
But the future of the case is now hanging just like of Mwanamvekha.
Zuneth Sattar’s high-profile international bribery scandal that involved the UK-based businessman and other top Malawian officials continued in the year before abruptly ended in its course.
It continued to face legal hurdles in 2025, primarily concerning the admissibility of evidence sourced from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). The legal deadlock slowed the case and highlighted challenges in international legal cooperation.
That aside, in May, the ACB suspended the Ministry of Health’s recruitment process for Health Surveillance Assistants across the country due to allegations that officials were demanding bribes (up to K500,000) from job seekers for favorable treatment. But the future of this case too is on mute.
When the year was close to the finish line, in December, the MRA came under scrutiny for its intention to award 5.4 billion kwacha in security service contracts to three firms, including one owned by the Minister of State, Alfred Gangata.
This raised legal and ethical concerns as the minister’s firm was already subject to MRA-initiated legal proceedings over tax issues.
The move stirred public anger and a vocal human rights lobby group HRDC through its chairperson Micheal Kayiyatsa called for more investigations on the matter.
“The company which was previously being prosecuted on tax clearance issues and now that case hasn’t been concluded yet and moreover the lawyer for the company is now the Commissioner General for MRA. This new deal therefore raises more questions,” said Kayiyatsa.
Overall, good governance advocates were not satisfied with the strides that Malawi made in the fight against corruption in the year.
One of them is Moses Mkandawire who said the fight wasn’t won because the attention shifted to the September elections while giving a room for corruption to gain weight.
“The effort towards the fight against corruption was eventually shot down due to this big event,” Mkandawire highlighted.
Talking of the September elections, the observation report of Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) revealed widespread mismanagement of public funds by the ruling party during the polls.
Kayiyatsa brought to task the Anti Corruption Bureau to investigate those behind the alleged looting. However, ACB said it was unaware of such a recommendation.
On going forward, Kayiyatsa said, “We need to look at our laws especially those related to political campaigning so that there is a clearer demarcation between state and political party events.”
Undoubtedly, Malawians would have liked to witness a good pace taken in 2025 especially on the fight against the deep-rooted grafts.
But, according a Lord Acton “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is where the fear lies on whether the ACB could absolutely develop a sharp teeth to bite those corruption suspects who are now holding absolute power in the new government machinery.
In the eyes of Moses Mkandawire, a good governance expert this would be a tough call.
He said, “It is difficult because in Malawi most of our leaders do not believe in integrity. Therefore it’s hard for ACB to go and investigate those in power.”
However, the Anti Corruption Bureau insists that its mandate remains intact though some of its suspects are now government gurus.
The former American president Joe Biden once said, “Corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy.”
It is therefore imperative to keep the fingers crossed and that government should demonstrate seriousness in hitting back on corruption.
The speech by President Peter Mutharika on his inauguration gives some Malawians a kinda sort of relief but only if duly followed to heal this cancer.
Mutharika charismatically said, “I find you looting the government’s resources whether you’re a political, a civil servant or a business person, you are done.”
But, as you would have noted, the fight against corruption does not require any rhetoric again.
So, 2026 is certainly a year when the venom against corruption is to be seen in its spit.