During the address President Mutharika said Malawi is a country where an African democracy works. It is a country where freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the liberty of conscience thrive. He said there has never been a single prisoner of conscience in prison since he came to lead the country.

“We have never been in denial because you don’t solve a problem by denying it. But the challenges of fighting corruption in Malawi are three-fold. First, there came a point when corruption was becoming a culture, being accepted as the normal way of doing things. I came in at the climax of this growing culture. This climax which was symbolized by the infamous Cashgate – the worst plunder of any African country known, sanctioned by the highest authorities.

When you fight a culture, it is your own people that you fight. And it takes a process to reverse a culture while our citizens demand conclusive solutions now or never. The second challenge is that when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. You fight people who have stolen money enough to sponsor a war against you. In our case, the most vicious PR machinery was unleashed to make my Government look like more corrupt than the most corrupt of them all,” said the Malawi Leader.

The President further added that another challenge is politicization of corruption. While Government accepts the presence of the problem, many institutions, including the church, the media and the Opposition are in denial. Some people believe that corruption is for politicians and Government officials.

They believe they are not part of the problem. The Opposition makes it a political agenda for fighting Government. They exaggerate the perception of corruption to make the people believe that they are holier than us. What follows is finger-pointing. In short, politicization of corruption defeats the very collective acceptance needed for a collective fight.

The Malawi Leader also said while some focus on politicizing corruption in the country, his administration is focusing on fighting it.

 “We are making progress. The World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index has told us that Malawi has improved on the absence of corruption category. We are one of the four impressive performers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has also reported that Malawi is scoring well on the Control of Corruption. Malawi is a country where the fight against corruption works. It is a country where a serving cabinet minister can be tried in court without obstruction. Malawi is a country where economic management works,” explained Prof. Mutharika.

Malawi was a broken economy falling apart after the devastation of what is called Cashgate. This was a sanctioned looting of the public treasury – the first of the kind, and the worst plunder of public treasury even known in the history of Africa.

The economy was on the brink of collapsing and the country on the edge of bankruptcy. In fact, government had a deficit that almost equaled annual national budget.

“Four years ago, inflation was at 24 per cent. We have brought inflation down to the single digit. Today, inflation is at 7.8 percent. Four years ago, interest rates were at 25 per cent. Today, interest rates are at 16 per cent,” he added.

Professor Mutharika informed Scottish Parliament that, four years ago, the country foreign currency import cover was below 2 months – the lowest in Malawi’s history. Today, foreign currency import cover is at 6 months – the highest in history.

“Not long ago, GDP Growth Rate was at 2.4 per cent per year and we have now taken our economic growth to just about 6 per cent per year. Four years ago, our local currency was volatile and unpredictable. Today, the local currency is stable and predictable. We have achieved macro-economic stability and the economy is beginning to grow.

Contrary to the hyped perception of Malawi, we have proven that it has taken sound economic management to turn around the economy in spite of crises and the absence of donor budgetary support. No other African nation ever did in three years what Malawi has done,” said Malawi Leader.