BLANTYRE--Seventy six percent of Malawians are of the view that police officers are the most corrupt while courts and the military are the most trusted institutions, the third of release of the Afrobarometer survey has revealed.

The survey also found that Malawians are evenly split on whether the quota selection policy for higher education is fair or not--41 percent said it’s fair, 42 percent said it’s unfair.

The report made available to MaraPost indicates that support for the “quota system is strongest in the Central (45%) and Southern (43 %) regions and lowest in the North (19%).”

When the quota system was introduced by the Mutharika administration, the government said the aim was to end regional imbalances in higher education as the North used to send more students to public colleges.

On courts and the military, Malawians (88 percent) trust the former and 83 percent the latter. Tax collector Malawi Revenue Authority received 50 percent while opposition parties 46% percent.

On dual citizenship, the survey reveals that nearly 9 in 10 Malawians disapproves of dual nationality, adding that among 12 Afrobarometer countries, Malawi is the least approving of dual citizenship.

“A plurality of Malawians (45%) self-identify by both national and ethnic identity. An overwhelming majority of Malawians (93%) state that they are proud to be called Malawians.  National pride is highest in cities (97%) and the Central region (95%),” the report says.

The survey further notes that half of the country’s population participates in community management of services and that there’s little contact between the citizen and service providers.

On general elections, the survey says on average, 8 in 10 Malawians participated in the 2009 elections as voters with 57 percent attending political rallies, 30 percent campaigning for a candidate or party and 24 percent working for a candidate.

“Close to 8 in 10 Malawians (regardless of sex) attend community meetings but this is more prevalent in towns and rural areas.

“While almost all Malawians (95%) regardless of sex or location said they joined or could join others to raise an issue, a similar proportion did and couldn’t participate in a demonstration.

“Less than half of Malawians participate in community management of services. Even then participation in community management of services is more prevalent among men and in rural areas and towns,” reveals the survey.

On democracy, only 1 in every 2 Malawians considers Malawi to be a democratic nation and this is one of the lowest ratings compared to other countries.

However, over half the population is satisfied with how democracy is working in Malawi.

The third release survey dwelled much on civic pparticipation and political participation, state of Democracy, trust in Institutions and corruption, citizenship and selection of students to public colleges.

The Afrobarometer (AB) is a comparative series of public opinion surveys that measure public attitudes toward democracy, governance, the economy, leadership, identity, and other related issues in Africa.

The purpose, according AB, is to measure popular perspectives on the social, political and economic environments in each country where it is implemented besides giving the public a voice in policy making processes by providing high-quality public opinion data to policy-makers, policy advocates, civil society organizations, academics, media, donors, investors, and ordinary Africans.

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(c) The Maravi Post 2012. Reproduction without acknowledgement prohibited

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