Malawi’s High Court this week sentenced a senior civil servant to six years’ imprisonment for corruption. Former Petroleum Control Commission (PCC) general manager Dennis Spax Kambalame was found guilty of taking a $25 000 kickback from a British-based company, Hamble Energy.
Hamble Energy was awarded a $1 570 000 contract by the PCC in 1997 to advise the commission on how to set up a strategic fuel reserve facility to increase Malawi’s storage capacity. ÂÂ
Kambalame, who initiated the tender for the consultancy, was part of the technical team that assessed bidders and served on the committee that decided on the award.
The trial, one of Malawi’s high profile graft cases, started in 2000 and ran for a record 453 days.
Malawi has come under scrutiny from international donors because of corruption. In the past four years the country has slipped 40 places to 83rd on Transparency International’s list of the world’s most corrupt countries.
Overspending by the government resulted in more than $75-million in aid being suspended in 2002 by the International Monetary Fund and donor countries.
The World Bank, one of the main sponsors of the country’s tough economic reforms, has said that high-level graft has ”significantly slowed down economic growth”.
President Bingu wa Mutharika has made several pledges to stamp out corruption since he became head of state in May this year. Malawi’s director of public prosecutions has instigated a probe into the state-run bus company and has instructed the Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, the country’s sole power provider.