Public servants fired over graft scandal

Malawi has fired 68 public servants for allegedly embezzling $2m in public funds, as the country tries to crack down on corruption that has resulted in donors withdrawing support. Business Day reports that employees at the Agricultural Ministry have been accused of running a scheme which saw inflated salaries or payments made for non-existent workers between 2012 and 2014. A probe showed most of the money was stolen by accounts personnel at the Ministry’s headquarters in Lilongwe and at research stations. Malawi’s 180 000 public servants earn an average of about $100 a month, and corruption is widespread in the public sector. In 2013, several high-ranking officials were implicated in the ‘cashgate’ scandal, when millions of dollars were stolen from government coffers.