Social Networks, Corruption and Institutions of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate institutions of accountability in Zambia in order to understand how social networks may influence such institutions not to discharge their mandates as expected from time to time. The study equally seeks to explore how social networks may perpetuate corrupt activities and compromise the functioning of institutions of accountability. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework adopted in this study draws on insights from social network theory (SNT) and Bourdieu’s ideas of capital to devise a critical lens for investigating network activity and its influence on the functioning of institutions of accountability. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with respondents drawn from different institutions of accountability. Social network analysis was conducted through content analysis. Findings: Research findings highlight the presence of networks of a corrupt nature operating within government structures and some institutions of accountability. Manifested in the form of systemic and familial archetypes, these networks appear to be championed and propelled by senior government officials like controlling officers and other actors of a political nature including ministers and presidents. Most of these corrupt activities are organised through brokerage mechanisms that interface internal and external networks. Research limitations/implications: Due to the clandestine nature of corruption activities, however, the study was unable to determine measures of centrality and density since these details were not forthcoming during interviews. Such information could only become available if willing individuals involved in corruption could be identified so that they explain who they conduct their corruption with together with the number of connections involved and the most influential individuals in those networks. Social implications: This study helps us to understand that activities of a corrupt nature are often undertaken through well-connected groups and networks that make it difficult for institutions of accountability to detect and untangle such activity. The study also suggests that accountants and other accountability actors may have forgotten that accounting is not just a technical discourse for enhancing one’s economic status but is an ethical profession as well. There is a great need to put institutions in place which should hold everyone, including the president and ministers, accountable to the Zambian people in the light of wrongdoing. Dismantling the corrupt network activities inferred from the data entails a complete top-down change in systems of politics, governance, wealth distribution and social values. Originality/value: This study contributes towards filling the gap of undertaking accounting research of a critical nature focussed on African contexts (Rahaman, 2010). The paper is equally an attempt at providing empirical flesh to Laughlin’s (1991) framework on organisational transformations through complementing that framework with SNT. The study is also among the first to draw on the experiences and insights of actors working within institutions of accountability to highlight accountability challenges within an African context

Education For All In Zimbabwe: A Mirage?

A ZJER article on assessing the attainment of MDG's (Millennium Development Goals) of Education for All in Zimbabwe.This paper assesses Zimbabwe’s efforts towards the attainment of, the goals of Education For All, (EFA) as determined and agreed upon at the World Conference on Education For All (WCEFA) held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 and re-affirmed in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. While Zimbabwe has been noted to have made huge strides in increasing access to education for previously marginalized Africans during the first decade of independence from Britain, there is need to take stock of progress in recent years against a background of socioeconomic decline experienced in the country since the early 1990s, more so since the year 2000.The introduction of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) marked the beginning of a phase of reduced government funding of social services sectors, education included. This saw the re-introduction of school fees arid various levies in both primary and secondary schools, negatively impacting oh access to education, particularly by children from disadvantaged groups such as those from impoverished rural, farming and mining communities. Added to this is the HIV/AIDS phenomenon that has ravaged communities particularly in the last decade, leaving a considerable number of children orphaned and without a means of sustaining their livelihoods in general and to pay school fees in particular. Then came the economic down-tum of the last decade, but particularly pronounced since the year 2000, again.rendering more families poorer and with a reduced capacity to pay fees for school going children. It:is against this background, that this paper scrutinizes Zimbabwe's efforts towards the attainment, of the ERA goals. Is Zimbabwe still on course

Managing university records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk: Case studies from South Africa and Malawi

There are enormous benefits for any organisation from practising sound records management. In the context of a public university, the importance of good records management includes: facilitating the achievement the university’s mandate; enhancing efficiency of the university; maintaining a reliable institutional memory; promoting trust; responding to an audit culture; enhancing university competitiveness; supporting the university’s fiduciary duty; demonstrating transparency and accountability; and fighting corruption. Records scholars and commentators posit that effective recordkeeping is an essential underpinning of good governance. Although there is a portrayal of positive correlation, recordkeeping struggles to get the same attention as that given to the governance. Evidence abounds of cases of neglect of recordkeeping in universities and other institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The apparent absence of sound recordkeeping provided a rationale for revisiting some universities in South Africa and Malawi in order to critically explore the place of recordkeeping in an organisation’s strategy in order to develop an alternative framework for managing records and documents in an era where good governance is a global agenda. The research is a collective case study in which multiple cases are used to critically explore the relationship between recordkeeping and governance. As qualitative research that belongs in the interpretive tradition of enquiry, it is not meant to suggest prescriptive solutions to general recordkeeping problems but rather to provide an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that arise in managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk. That is: what goes on in the workplace; what are the problems; and what alternative approaches might address any existing problem situations. Research findings show that some institutions are making good use of their governance structures and other drivers for recordkeeping to put in place sound recordkeeping systems. Key governance structures and other drivers for recordkeeping identified include: laws and regulations; governing bodies; audit; risk; technology; reforms; and workplace culture. Other institutions are not managing their records and documents well despite efforts to improve their governance systems. They lack recordkeeping capacity. Areas that determine recordkeeping capacity include: availability of records management policy; capacity for digital records; availability of a records management unit; senior management support; level of education and training of records management staff; and systems and procedures for storage, retrieval and dispositions of records. Although this research reveals that the overall recordkeeping in the selected countries has slightly improved compared with the situation other researchers found a decade ago, it remains unsatisfactory and disjointed from governance. The study therefore proposes governance recordkeeping as an approach to managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk. The governance recordkeeping viewpoint considers recordkeeping as a governance function that should be treated in the same manner as other governance functions such as audit and risk management. Additionally, recordkeeping and governance should be considered as symbiotic elements of a strategy. A strategy that neglects recordkeeping may not fulfil the organisation’s objectives effectively

Access to Land, Income Diversification and Poverty Reduction in Rural Kenya

The increasing land scarcity and the worsening trend of poverty in Kenya in recent years have raised concerns about the focus on land-based agriculture as the basis of growth in the rural areas. This paper combines two complementary data sets obtained from two locations in Kenya, drawn against distinctively different land availability patterns, to examine the diverse rural asset base and key sources of livelihood in the rural areas. The analysis reveals that while access to productive land is still an important determinant of livelihoods in the rural areas, even where land holdings are very small, growth in farm productivity alone may not guarantee households sufficient incomes to escape poverty. We find evidence to suggest that growth of non-farm sector is necessary and may be much more important in reducing risks and vulnerability to poverty and should be equally emphasized if households in such regions are to escape poverty. Off-farm earnings accounted for at least 50 percent of total household incomes in the two research locations. The study further revealed existence of significant barriers to entry to remunerative livelihoods both at farm and off-farm level. The study advocates for expansion of educational services, infrastructure and strengthening of rural institutions to spur broad-based development in the rural areas.diversification, livelihoods, land holding, assets, Kenya., Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q12, Q15, Q18, O18, O13,

Value chain analysis of Lake Malawi fish: a case study of Oreochromis spp (Chambo)

Chambo has potential of improving fishers’ socio-economic status in Malawi. The paper examines Chambo value chain whose findings will improve fish marketing by actors along the chain. Quantitative value chain analysis used, investigated income, profit margins distribution among different actors along the chain and determined marketing channels’ efficiency. Daily net incomes of retailer, fisher and wholesaler were MK930.78, MK676.99 and MK485.40 respectively. Marketing margins were MK515.68, MK689.65 and MK1951.70 for fishers, wholesalers and retailers respectively. Income was significantly different among fishers, fish wholesalers and fish retailers. High marketing margins led to marketing inefficiency. Fisher’s income and profitability could improve if crewmen were downsized to reduce the wage bill. Fuel availability in fuel pumps could lower fisher’s costs. Construction of cold chain facilities half way close to where Chambo is caught to reduce wholesalers’ distance to markets would lead to the sharing of transport costs between fish retailers and fish wholesalers

Clinical outcomes among febrile children aged 2 to 59 months with negative malaria rapid diagnostic test results in Mchinji District, Malawi

BackgroundMalawi malaria treatment guidelines recommend a definitive diagnosis, using a malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT), for all patients with fever or history of fever. Improving the management and outcomes of febrile children with negative mRDT results should be a priority.MethodsThrough a prospective cohort study designed to investigate clinical outcomes of children treated at the community level, we followed, for 7 days, children aged 2 to 59 months, who had negative mRDT results and were treated with antipyretic medication. Clinical outcomes were assessed on days 3 and 7 post-recruitment.ResultsThe median age of recruited children was 19 months. Of the 285 children enrolled, 139 (48.8%) were females. Of the children for whom data were available for analysis, 95/236 (40.3%) had fever (temperature ≥ 37.5°C) at enrolment, and almost half of the sick children (125/268; 46.6%) had symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection. Most sick children (89.6%; 95% confidence interval, CI = 84.2 to 93.3) recovered, while 10.4% (95% CI: 6.7 to 15.8) were still sick by day 7 of follow-up. There were no deaths reported during the 7 days of follow-up. Being afebrile at enrolment (odds ratio, OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.1 to 6.0; P = 0.027) and sleeping under an insecticide-treated net (ITN) (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.2 to 6.2; P = 0.011) were associated with recovery by day 7. In multivariable analysis, sleeping under an ITN the previous night was the only factor associated with recovery by day 7. Microscopy did not detect any malaria parasites in the blood of recruited children, at recruitment or on day 7.ConclusionsIn this community-level study, the majority of febrile children with negative mRDT results recovered within 7 days of health worker consultation for a febrile illness, having only taken antipyretics

B cell, CD8 + T cell and gamma delta T cell infiltration alters alveolar immune cell homeostasis in HIV-infected Malawian adults

HIV infection is associated with increased risk to lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). However, the impact of HIV infection on immune cell populations in the lung is not well defined. We sought to comprehensively characterise the impact of HIV infection on immune cell populations in the lung. : Twenty HIV-uninfected controls and 17 HIV-1 infected ART-naïve adults were recruited from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi. Immunophenotyping of lymphocyte and myeloid cell populations was done on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and peripheral blood cells. : We found that the numbers of CD8 T cells, B cells and gamma delta T cells were higher in BAL fluid of HIV-infected adults compared to HIV-uninfected controls (all p<0.05). In contrast, there was no difference in the numbers of alveolar CD4 T cells in HIV-infected adults compared to HIV-uninfected controls (p=0.7065). Intermediate monocytes were the predominant monocyte subset in BAL fluid (HIV-, 63%; HIV+ 81%), while the numbers of classical monocytes was lower in HIV-infected individuals compared to HIV-uninfected adults (p=0.0006). The proportions of alveolar macrophages and myeloid dendritic cells was lower in HIV-infected adults compared to HIV-uninfected controls (all p<0.05). : Chronic HIV infection is associated with broad alteration of immune cell populations in the lung, but does not lead to massive depletion of alveolar CD4 T cells. Disruption of alveolar immune cell homeostasis likely explains in part the susceptibility for LRTIs in HIV-infected adults

Modeling the Impact of Retention Interventions on Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: Results From INSPIRE Studies in Malawi, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe

Six implementation research studies in Malawi, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe tested approaches for improving retention in care among women living with HIV. We simulated the impact of their interventions on the probability of HIV transmission during pregnancy and breastfeeding

The significant gap between international standards and stroke management practices at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (Malawi): An audit report

Background The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) is preparing to set up the first stroke unit in Blantyre, Malawi. We conducted this audit to assess current stroke management practices and outcomes at QECH and identify priority areas for intervention. Methods From April to June 2018, we prospectively enrolled patients with acute stroke and collected data on clinical presentation, cardiovascular risk factors, investigations and interventions, in-hospital outcomes, and follow-up plans after discharge. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) guidelines were used as the standard of care for comparison. Results Fifty patients with acute stroke were enrolled (46% women, 54% men). The mean age was 63.1 years (95% CI: 59.7-66.6). The diagnosis of stroke was based on the World Health Organization criteria. The diagnosis was made within 24 hours of admission in 19 patients (38%). Acute revascularisation therapy was not available. Forty-eight patients (96%) had their vital signs checked at baseline and 140/90 mmHg in 34 patients (68%), including 4 with values >220/120 mmHg. Nine patients had an RBS >10 mmol/L and four received insulin. Prophylaxis for deep venous thrombosis was offered to 12 patients (24%). Aspiration pneumonia was reported in 16 patients (32%) and was the most common hospital complication. The mean duration of hospitalisation was 10.4 days (95% CI: 5.6-15.2), and case fatality was 18%. The modified Rankin scale at discharge was ≤2 in 32% of patients. Only four patients (8%) were transferred to a rehabilitation centre. At the time of discharge, only 32% of patients received education on stroke. Conclusion Acute stroke care is less than optimal in this setting. Simple interventions such as reducing the delay in making a stroke diagnosis, early swallow assessments, and closer monitoring of vital signs could make a significant difference in stroke outcome. Furthermore, treating cardiovascular risk factors and setting up health education programmes to improve secondary prevention represent key priorities

Assessment of agrobiodiversity resources in the Borotse flood plain, Zambia

Concerns about perceived loss of indigenous materials emerged from multiple stakeholders during consultations to plan and design the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems for the Borotse hub in Zambia’s Western Province. To come to grips with and address the concerns, the AAS Borotse hub program of work included an assessment of agrobiodiversity to inform community-level and program initiatives and actions. The agrobiodiversity assessment comprised three components: key informant and expert surveys complemented by review of grey and published literature, focus group discussions in the communities, and individual household surveys. This working paper reports the findings from assessments of agrobiodiversity resources in the Borotse hub by key informants and local experts working in government ministries, departments and agencies, and non-governmental organizations operating in the communities.This working paper covers the following topics: agriculture in the Borotse flood plain; major agricultural land types in the Borotse flood plain; soils and their uses; production systems; crops, including the seed sector and ex-situ resources; indigenous materials collected from the wild, including non-perennial and perennial plants, aquatic plants, and forest biodiversity; fish resources, including both capture fisheries and aquaculture; livestock resources; dietary diversity; and indigenous and local knowledge on management systems