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A Malawian activist takes part in a protest against corruption
A Malawian activist takes part in a protest in Blantyre against the endemic corruption revealed by an audit of government finances. Photograph: AFP
A Malawian activist takes part in a protest in Blantyre against the endemic corruption revealed by an audit of government finances. Photograph: AFP

Malawi's Cashgate corruption scandal highlights importance of accountability

This article is more than 10 years old
Without the accountability envisioned in a landmark 2004 World Bank report, Malawi's services and citizens will continue to suffer

A senior official has been shot, millions of dollars are missing and there are suspects at the highest level of government. It sounds like something from a spy thriller, but in fact it is the unfolding Cashgate scandal in Malawi, which has caught the imagination of the world's media.

The hole in the country's finances and the suspension of donor aid will have a knock-on effect on the ability to pay salaries to teachers, nurses and other public servants. It is likely to result in public service cuts, with district officials potentially left without the resources to fund even the most basic provisions such as ambulances or medicines.

Malawi's capacity to deliver services was already low before the scandal unfolded. In 2012, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) analysed the country's shortage of essential medicines and identified core institutional weaknesses. The experiences of ordinary people, however, have rarely been reported, despite the participation and empowerment rhetoric that dominates the development debate. Citizens losing out is a familiar political story, but what can be done about it?

Ten years ago, the World Bank published its landmark world development report (WDR) 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People. At its core was the recognition that politics and accountability are vital to improve services, and that aid donors ignore this at their peril. Its ideas have gained traction, but judging from experiences in Malawi we still have some way to go.

The report's central tenet was that there remains a triad of relationships important for the delivery of public services, between citizens and politicians; policymakers and service providers; and service providers and clients, or citizens. When these relationships break down, or if they have never existed, citizens are unable to hold politicians to account and policymakers are unable to monitor or sanction service providers – the "long route" to accountability. Equally, citizens as clients are unable to exercise control over providers – the "short route".

Influenced by these ideas, there has been the push to "go local", particularly to strengthen citizens' relationships with service providers. This recognises that for most people, all politics is local – whether teachers show up for school on time, health centres remain open or the police treat the public fairly. Efforts to improve local accountability include the promotion of information campaigns and scorecard initiatives; increasing citizens' participation in bodies such as hospital health and school management committees; and processes of democratic decentralisation.

In Malawi, however, this has not been enough. Citizen participation in committees is often poor, and decentralisation has been ad hoc and fragmented . Political power remains concentrated at the national level, meaning there is little or no local accountability in practice. This has led to the poor performance of many key services, with staff often unsure who reports to whom. There is often little accountability for service providers or for politicians, resulting in a dysfunctional system that echoes the broader national problem.

Is the problem too big to be fixed? Should we consign the WDR 2004 to the scrapheap of once influential reports? Not necessarily. There is growing experience in Malawi of community scorecards, which have led to concrete improvements in service delivery. Further afield, there are a wealth of examples, from India's experience with public audits and the work of the social movement MKSS to Uwezo's innovative work on measuring learning and using information in east Africa. There are examples of donors providing more effective support, from a rural water programme in Tanzania to addressing healthworker pay and attendance in Sierra Leone. Such initiatives, however, are too often isolated one-offs.

What is clear, and has been for some time, is that meaningful change for citizens requires a political agenda. Think of Chile's impressive education results, Rwanda's improvements in maternal health and even Barack Obama's health reforms in the US. None of these would have been possible without being part of a political project, backed up by organisations from social movements and political parties to trade unions and professional associations. It is a tricky nut to crack, but in trying to solve a problem like Malawi, it is worth taking another look at the WDR 2004. You would have thought the penny might have dropped by now.

Development conference

Ten years after its publication, the ODI and the World Bank are hosting a conference to examine the main themes of the 2004 world development report. The conference takes place in Washington on 28 February and 1 March, and will be streamed live on the internet. Speakers include the economist and journalist Tim Harford; the World Bank's chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa, Shanta Devarajan; the director of Oxford University's centre for the study of African economies, Paul Collier; the ODI's executive director, Kevin Watkins; senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's global economy and development programme Homi Kharas; and Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Malawi official jailed for nine years over 'Cashgate' scandal

  • Malawi election will be closest in 20 years, and that's worth celebrating

  • Malawi tightens budget strings to placate foreign aid donors

  • Malawi goes to the polls in a climate of distrust and instability

  • Peter Mutharika emerges triumphant in disputed Malawi elections

  • Malawi prepares for $100m 'cashgate' corruption trial

  • Why Malawi took so long to declare an election winner

  • Malawian president Joyce Banda faces electoral humiliation – and possibly jail

  • Malawi president sacks cabinet over corruption scandal

  • Dispute over Malawi election results ends Joyce Banda's political sainthood

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