By Lovemore Khomo
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) says it has lifted restrictions on five District Councils to proceed with Unified Beneficiary Registry (UBR) exercise.
The five councils that restriction notices were served to were Dowa, Ntchisi, Kasungu, Chiradzulu and Nkhotakota.
The UBR process is aimed at registering and considering households for potential inclusion in social programs based on a transparent assessment of those households’ needs and conditions.
In an interview, ACB Principal Public Relations Officer Egrita Ndala said the restrictions were issued following numerous complaints received and pursuant to its powers under Section 23 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act, in April 2023.
Ndala elaborated that restrictions were also against District Councils from proceeding with the recruitment and training of enumerators for the 2023 UBR exercise in the respective Districts Councils.
“The Restriction Notices were issued to allow the Bureau conduct investigations into the allegations regarding the recruitment of enumerators and the Bureau investigations have established no evidence of prosecutable corrupt practices pertaining to the recruitment in five Councils.” explained Ndala.
According to ACB, serious irregularities in Karonga has compelled the bureau to maintain the restriction notice it issued against the recruitment and training process and recommended that the recruitment process should restart.
Ndala then advised all stakeholders involved in this process to desist from corrupt practices.
According to the World Bank UBR has registered and collected data for over 800,000 households (or 4 million people) in the 13 districts where it has been rolled out.
