How Malawi is Advancing Open Contracting and Beneficial Ownership Transparency

SUMMARY
Malawi has ambitions to become an upper-middle income country by 2063 through a focus on inclusion and the collective efforts of its citizens. The country’s efforts to advance reform in public procurement, especially recent progress in strengthening its legal frameworks, digitizing its processes, and linking this data to beneficial ownership information, are key to achieving this goal. Read on to learn how the government and civil society are working together to sustain anti-corruption reforms.

Malawi has ambitions to become an upper-middle income country by 2063 through a focus on inclusion and the collective efforts of its citizens, as outlined in its national development framework, Malawi 2063. Achieving this vision will require civil society organizations (CSOs) to play a vital role in holding the government to account, monitoring public institutions, and demanding transparency in the management of public resources.

One of the major challenges facing Malawi is corruption in public procurement. Procurement processes are often exploited through a lack of clarity on companies’ true owners, manipulation of bidding systems, and exclusion of competition. Procurement irregularities make up over 70 percent of all corruption cases handled by Malawi’s corruption watchdog, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). High-profile cases like the Cashgate scandal and the Sattar case underscore the scale and persistence of the problem.

To address these challenges, Malawi is pushing forward with key anti-corruption reforms. The country has been a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2013. Its second OGP action plan (2023–2025), co-created by government and CSOs, saw success in making changes to Malawi’s open contracting and beneficial ownership transparency policies.

An Overview of Malawi’s Public Procurement System

For decades, tackling procurement-related corruption has been a core reform priority in Malawi. Key milestones include the establishment of the ACB in 1998 and the enactment of the Public Procurement Act (2003), which introduced formal oversight mechanisms. However, persistent enforcement gaps led to the passing of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (2017), which created the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) as an independent regulatory body with broad powers to oversee, monitor, and enforce procurement processes.

Malawi took further steps to strengthen its legal anti-corruption framework through the Companies (Beneficial Ownership) Regulations (2022), Financial Crimes Amendment Act (2023) and the Ombudsman Amendment Act (2024). On March 31, 2025, a new Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act came into force following a presidential directive to review the 2017 law. The 2025 law mandates the disclosure of beneficial ownership information, stricter pricing controls, simplified procedures, and clear definitions of procurement roles. It also supports the digitization of the public procurement process through an e-procurement system.

The PPDA has the authority to investigate, sanction, and suspend entities involved in procurement malpractice and is mandated to disclose information on large infrastructure contracts. High-value and single-source procurements must also be vetted by the ACB. However, in practice, these legal mechanisms are frequently ignored. The widespread use of restricted tendering has undermined competition and transparency, creating space for procurement monopolies and, in some cases, enabling state capture. Even basic compliance remains a challenge, with procuring entities often failing to submit required records to the PPDA.

On the technical side, the PPDA is working to digitize its public procurement system. This transition can help speed up procurement processes, expand data accessibility, and increase transparency, which can help civil society play its watchdog role. By July 2025, 32 government bodies have fully transitioned to using the Malawi National Electronic Procurement System, an e-procurement digital platform implemented with financial support from the World Bank. The PPDA has also integrated the e-procurement system with the Registrar General and the Malawi Revenue Authority, which will allow for real-time data validation to ensure the accuracy of supplier and procurement-related information, including beneficial ownership data.

According to Dr. Edington Chilapondwa, the Director General of the PPDA, the agency also introduced a dedicated e-marketplace to give micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, including those led by women and youth, a fair opportunity to participate in public procurement. The agency also recently conducted training sessions for suppliers on how to use the new e-procurement system,

Continuing to address these issues, especially around beneficial ownership transparency, digitization, and enforcement, is essential to build a procurement system that truly serves the public interest.

Creating the Frameworks and Policies for Transparency

To improve access to procurement information, the government committed to enhancing legal frameworks and institutions under its 2023–2025 action plan. This included advancing open contracting practices and institutionalizing beneficial ownership transparency across all legal entities involved in the public procurement process.

Malawi made a major breakthrough through this commitment by connecting beneficial ownership data with public procurement records for the first time.

The commitment has already made significant progress towards its three key goals:

• Strengthening legal frameworks: Procurement laws now require the collection and public disclosure of beneficial ownership information for all companies involved in public procurement in national newspapers and the PPDA website. This aims to curb procurement monopolies by ensuring that companies with shared beneficial owners cannot unfairly compete for contracts.
• Embedding open contracting principles: By adopting the Open Contracting Data Standard, the government seeks to increase transparency and combat the misuse of exclusionary procurement methods, such as single-source and restricted tendering.
• Transitioning to e-procurement: A centralized electronic procurement (e-GP) system, managed by the PPDA, has been introduced to reduce inefficiencies, promote transparency, and improve accountability throughout the procurement cycle. The system will also enable greater interoperability with beneficial ownership data.

Such reforms equip all actors involved, including non-governmental groups, with more timely and accessible tools to monitor, report, and advocate for fair and transparent systems. Increased access to information also empowers oversight bodies like the ACB to enhance their monitoring.

As Dr. Janet Banda, Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet and Chair of OGP Malawi, emphasized, “These reforms give procurement officers access to vital information that helps flag conflicts of interest or non-disclosure. Just as importantly, they allow civil society and the private sector to independently verify data and hold institutions accountable where irregularities are suspected. ”

Edwin Muhumuza, Head of Africa at Open Contracting Partnership, noted, “The reforms are a transition from zero, providing the systems, tools, policies, and in some cases, legal frameworks. We now have the tools and systems, and the laws coming.”

Turning Policy into Practice

For CSOs, resource and capacity constraints can limit meaningful participation in the OGP process. With greater support, civil society can help sustain the promise of these reforms by playing a frontline role in monitoring service delivery at the community level. In Malawi, there has been progress recently, seen through the increased scope and diversity of civil society and private sector actors engaging with OGP processes and commitment implementation. Another positive indicator is the support to civil society to coordinate on relevant policy agendas to ensure reform continuity and advocate for their inclusion during co-creation of the most recent action plan.

To ensure the long-term success of these reforms, the government can explore different areas for action. The first is to continue working with partners like the World Bank to support government bodies leading specific action plan commitments, which can improve coordination between the government and non-state actors like civil society. This could be done through the existing national Technical Working Groups created by the government through the OGP platform. Another possibility is increasing support to Malawi’s OGP Secretariat to improve and increase visibility of progress made on reforms, as well as providing regular workshops that build CSO capacity to contribute their expertise to commitment design and implementation.

Meanwhile, on the technical side, several implementation gaps need urgent attention. The PPDA can strengthen enforcement mechanisms by introducing penalties for non-compliance and data falsification, particularly in relation to beneficial ownership disclosures. Establishing systems to verify and validate ownership data at the point of submission would further safeguard integrity. Ensuring that published information aligns with data protection standards will also be key to building trust.

The Path Toward Malawi 2063

Successful implementation of the commitments will put Malawi one step closer to achieving Malawi 2063, where the implementation of open government reforms, particularly in public procurement, will be central to making that vision a reality.

Reflecting on the broader significance of these changes, Dr. Banda notes, “These reforms are a game changer for Malawi and are going to level the playing field for businesses in terms of public procurement, while promoting public sector integrity. These reforms are a boost to public confidence and investor trust in Malawi.”

The current action plan will continue to prioritize the transition from policy design to implementation. The current legal frameworks and systems provide critical foundations, but the real test lies in whether they can deliver lasting change. This will require not only political will but also sustained collaboration, investment in local capacity, and the continued building of a culture of accountability across institutions and stakeholders.

As Willy Kambwandira, Executive Director at the Centre for Social Accountability & Transparency, put it, “I think it’s worth celebrating the collaboration between government and civil society. The fact that we have a framework in place for this kind of cooperation is a significant milestone.”

Looking ahead, the role of political and executive leadership will remain important for reform implementation. Political will has been key to enable the process to come this far, but building and sustaining trust is a fragile process. Translating this will into concrete institutional action and leadership is key. It is also critical for civil society champions to continue to expand visibility and knowledge about the value and impacts already achieved through OGP processes, especially through structured collaboration to support stronger institutional actions for improved public accountability.