Competition and Fair Trading Commission of Malawi

CFTC recognized as a corrupt free organisation

Details: Created on Tuesday, 06 January 2015 06:36

CFTC The Competition and Fair Trading Commission has been recognized as one of the top three Malawian organisations that have taken the initiative of fighting corruption at the workplace. This was announced by the Anti-Corruption Bureau during the 2014 commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day held at Grand Palace Hotel on 13^th December 2014.

The celebrations, which were presided over by His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, were held under the theme “Stop Corruption, Develop Malawi”.

This recognition follows findings of the 2013 Malawi Corruption and Governance Survey and the analysis of the ACB database on corruption complaints which showed that the CFTC had minimal incidence of corrupt practices in its business dealings. The other two institutions identified were TNM Malawi Ltd and Press Trust.

Speaking during the function, Executive Director of the ACB, Mr. Lucas Kondowe congratulated the three organizations for taking a positive step in fighting corruption in their institutions. Mr Kondowe reiterated that corruption is very detrimental to the development of the country and called on all stakeholders in the public sector, private sector and civil society to join hands with the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the fight to root out corruption in this country.

Commenting on the award, CFTC Executive Director Mrs Charlotte Wezi Malonda said the award was a significant milestone in the history of the Commission. Malonda said:

“We are delighted to accept this award from the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Corruption, just like bid rigging, is an evil which needs to be totally eliminated in our society. As an agency charged with the responsibility of promoting competition, CFTC acknowledges the correlation between corruption and anti-competitive practices. Therefore, the task of eliminating corruption cannot be left to the Anti-Corruption Bureau alone. The CFTC will continue to work with other stakeholders in a fair, transparent and accountable manner, to ensure that there is vigorous competition amongst players in the market and that government doesn’t pay more than a fair price for goods and services”.

Over the past few months, the CFTC has published several newspaper articles on the detection of bid rigging in public procurement. This was founded on the premise that, when competition is curtailed through such practices as corruption, taxpayers’ money is wasted.