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Training forms an important part in the development of
the Bureau. For this reason the Bureau provides an intensive Induction Course to all its
new recruits whatever the level of their posts in order to familiarise them with the
Corrupt Practices Act and the procedures of the Bureau. The training is conducted and
facilitated by the Technical Advisor. In order to facilitate the swift assimilation of all
new inductees into operational fields. training courses are combined with on the job
training. Progress so far has been very good.
Plans are currently in hand for officers in all Departments of the
Bureau to receive specialist training both at home and abroad as circumstances dictate. It
is anticipated that a number of Investigators will get specialist investigative training
in the United Kingdom later on in the year, and Civic Education Officers will undergo
specialist training also. As soon as the Corruption Prevention Officers join the Bureau,
they will receive specialist training in running "Managerial Accountability"
workshops.
The Deputy Director attended a one-week staff attachment at the
Anti-Corruption Commission in Lusaka, Zambia, from 24th to 31st August, 1997. The Bureau
financed the visit from local resources.
In the interests of transparency in the filling of vacancies in the
Bureau, advertisements were placed in all the local newspapers in the country in June and
July, 1997 offering vacant posts in the
Bureau. More than two thousand applications were
received. The applicants were evaluated and based on the need to recruit persons with
potential to be trained and to be assets to the Bureau and so to uphold its integrity.
Short lists were prepared and 134 candidates were invited to attend interviews. The
Solicitor General and Secretary for Justice, the Secretary for Human Resource Management
and Development, and a senior official from Customs and Excise, were on the interview
panel for the three senior posts of Bureau Secretary, Assistant Director, and Chief
Investigations Officer. These three interviews were chaired by the rector.
The interview panel in the other posts of Civic Education Officers,
Investigator., Administrative Officer, Documentation Officer, Systems Analyst/Programmer
drew panelists from the Police, Customs and Excise and Human Resource Management and
Development. These interviews were chaired by the Deputy Director. The interviews
commenced on 19th September, 1997, and ended on the 27th October, 1997.
After the interviews the successful candidates had to undergo a vetting
process. This process required the Deputy Director to contact all the referees for the
successful candidates. The process of vetting was completed in November, 1997.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau was assisted by the British Government to
engage the services of consultants, Development Management Associates (DMA), Lilongwe, who
worked together with officers from the Department of Human Resource Management and
Development to draw up the Terms and Conditions of Service of the staff of the
Anti-Corruption Bureau. The draft conditions were reviewed by the Director and the Deputy
Director and were extensively discussed and revised so that they reflected the genuine
need to have Anti-Corruption Bureau officers who were beyond reproach. The Terms and
Conditions of Service were approved by the President, in accordance with the Act, in
December, 1997. The Bureau is very grateful to the British Government for its support in
financing this particular consultancy, which included logistical and secretarial support
to the interview process for Bureau staff.
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION BUREAU
P.O. BOX 2437
LILONGWE
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