NLGFC's Integrity committee posses  in a photograph

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) says it is impressed with the commitment of the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) in attaining above typical institutional integrity levels in the fight against corruption.

The remarks were made by the Director of Corruption Prevention at the ACB Mary Phombeya when she officially opened a two day Internal Integrity Committee orientation session for the NLGFC at Salima.

‘May I applaud the NLGFC for establishing the Internal Integrity Committee (IIC) as the action meets government guidelines for ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’S) to institute such committees’, said Phombeya. ‘It is also a requirement in the performance contracts between MDA’s and the Office of the President and Cabinet’, she said.

The Director said it was encouraging that the vision of the NLGFC is aligned to fighting corruption by positioning itself to have transparent local governments delivering quality services.

She then appealed to the staff to make sure that the internal integrity committee not only promotes but is seen to champion good governance, mainstreaming ethics and integrity at the NLGFC and at local councils.

In his remarks Director of Administration and Corporate Services, at the NLGFC, Arthur Liwonga, said the orientation will benefit the NLGFC in managing issues of integrity especially in local councils.

Liwonga said the orientation was expected to lead to the effective execution of the NLGFC’s mandate as provided for in the republican constitution.

In an interview, the convener of the session, Thomson Chopera Longwe, NLGFC’s Audit Manager, said the skill and knowledge transfer session will inculcate institutional integrity, an ethics respecting culture and provide guidance for effective service delivery through local councils, as envisaged in the NLGFC’s vision statement.  

‘We have a toll free number, 847, for anonymously reporting corruption across councils in Malawi’ says Chopera.

‘This training will also provide more platforms and possibilities which will help the NLGFC achieve a level of internal understanding to place it on the same footing to the demands of its constitutional mandate and obligations’, said Chopera.

The two day training tackled issues on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and mandate of an IIC, identifying corruption risk areas, corruption detection and prevention strategies, ethics and integrity at the work place.