Open Gov Challenge: Malawi

Open Contracting and Beneficial Ownership Transparency

What’s the issue? Public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... is vulnerable to corruption in Malawi due to legal loopholes allowing businesses to bid for contracts without disclosing their beneficial owners.
Public officials also use exclusionary procurement methods (such as accepting bids from a single source) to prevent competition.

What’s the plan? Malawi has begun work to strengthen its legal frameworks on public procurement and beneficial ownership and create an online procurement system that uses beneficial ownership data. For example, the government has mandated the collection and publication of beneficial ownership data, passed regulations to implement this change, and launched a beneficial ownershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... register.

Why is this ambitious? This commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... connects beneficial ownership data with public procurement data for the first time in Malawi and makes such contracts available to the public, both key ingredients to a successful anti-corruption strategy.

Learn more about the commitment from Dr. Janet L. Banda, the Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet and the Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit in Malawi.