Peer Reviewer 1:
All the issues tackled are accurate. For fairness, the author should have spoken to the United Democratic Front (UDF) to get their side as well. The report cites the UDF regime for most corruption ills, past and present, and a comment from them would have brought fairness to the whole picture.
Overall, this is a well-written analysis, summarizing the corruption situation in Malawi.
1. Additional context -Defining what constitutes corruption in the Malawian context: the article has not tackled this in the broad sense, but it has only dealt with corruption in high places, leaving a void in-between. One would assume that acts of corruption are confined to the high and mighty who have political clout. The reality is that corruption and fraud are also perpetrated in public and private sectors and departments, such as police, courts, hospitals (where drugs either dont exist or get stolen, and drug procurement deals are shady), sports administration offices, immigration and revenue administration offices. The scope of corruption should therefore not have been limited to embezzlement or diversion of donor money into certain pockets.
2. Significant events or developments relevant to the topic selected by the author that were not addressed -Economic literature and demographics: Malawi, as one of the worlds poorest countries, has an average income per capita of US$160 and an estimated population of 14 million. Poverty is widespread, with more than 50 percent of the total population living on less than two dollars a day. Malawi does not publish employment figures, but it is clear that a majority of the people who can work remain unemployed. This economic literature is crucial as it gives background to some of the factors that lead to and motivate acts of corruption.
Peer Reviewer 2:
The situation painted by the Reporter's Notebook for Malawi is a typical story for the country. Corruption is rampant and people get poorer every year because they cannot access essential services.
The money that comes from the perpetual inflows of donor funding rarely goes towards deserving projects, as most of it is swallowed by corrupt officials, both in the government and in the private sector.
In the education sector, corruption keeps on growing at an alarming rate. The latest example is the leak of the Malawi School Certificate of Examinations. The Malawi National Examinations Board authorities denied initial reports that examination papers were being sold in markets while students were sitting for them. It had to take newspapers to publish the examination papers before the day of sitting for the government to admit failure and deep-rooted corruption in the system.
For someone to get a place in a university, pass an examination or even get a place in a government secondary school, the easier way through is to bribe officials. It is now becoming normal for people to pay for services, even if they are not supposed to. It is becoming a survival tool for people to indulge in corruption.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau, the body that is in charge of curbing corruption, had no director for a very long time. The director was only appointed a month ago, after a very long break. The person who was in charge of the Anti-Corruption Bureau in an acting position was accused of receiving two salaries -- one from the corruption-fighting body and another one from the police, where he had worked before. The government had no desire to prosecute him, let alone to remove him from office. The country's opposition parties in Parliament had to hold government to ransom to have the Anti-Corruption Bureau acting director removed.
Sometimes international donors are also to blame for the situation because they keep on backing the government even in the light of vast corrupt tendencies. The catch-words most donors use are "at least the country is trying. Being poor; Malawi is not expected to be perfect". However, this type of stance makes the government feel not too obligated to be transparent and accountable.
It is however, not all gloom and doom. Non-governmental organizations and the media and doing their best to unearth corrupt tendencies, and there are times when the government does act against corruption.
