Targeting Grand Corruption: Law Enforcement Responses in Africa

This project conducted the first comparative study of high-level anti-corruption law enforcement in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Malawi – identifying the conditions that enable or constrain effective prosecutions.

Law enforcement plays a central role in combating corruption – through investigation, prosecution, and asset recovery. Yet in many African countries, enforcement is often seen as weak or compromised, hampered by limited resources, political interference, and the sheer scale of corruption itself.

This project provided the first comparative analysis of how law enforcement authorities in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Malawi responded to high-profile corruption cases. It examined the practical and political factors that shaped outcomes, including the availability and use of investigative and legal tools, the design of institutional frameworks, and the strategic choices made by prosecutors and officials.

Importantly, the research explored how different actors – including political leaders and law enforcement professionals – defined “effective” enforcement in their own contexts. By identifying both enabling and constraining conditions for successful prosecutions, the project generated new evidence to inform future reforms and help close the gap between anti-corruption law and enforcement in practice.

Key Findings

Government officials in Malawi held a clear-eyed view of the weaknesses in the criminal justice system, yet many believed that law enforcement efforts – particularly those targeting the high-profile Cashgate scandal – had a deterrent effect on high-level corruption.

The Cashgate prosecutions were seen as a break from the pattern of impunity, with many officials perceiving a real increase in the likelihood of punishment. However, concerns over selective justice – where some were punished while others were not – dampened these gains.

Swiftness in detecting and punishing corruption emerged as a particularly strong deterrent. While severity of punishment mattered, it was less consistently cited as a critical factor.

Officials emphasised the symbolic power of visible enforcement efforts in a context where corruption was often socially tolerated and corrupt actors were rarely shamed by their communities.

Despite systemic shortcomings, even imperfect law enforcement was viewed as meaningful – especially in environments where corruption was seen as culturally acceptable. The research suggested that targeted enforcement efforts can begin to shift expectations and behaviours, even when broader reforms are still underway.

From a policy perspective, the findings reinforced the importance of integrating credible law enforcement responses into a broader anti-corruption strategy. Without the perception of certain, swift, and proportionate punishment, efforts to address entrenched corruption were unlikely to succeed.

Impact and Implications

The research findings were intended to inform policymaking and law enforcement practice in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Malawi—helping to shape more effective responses to high-level corruption. Beyond these national contexts, the insights contributed to the broader global debate on anti-corruption enforcement, offering lessons on what enables deterrence and how enforcement strategies can be adapted to challenging governance environments.

Evidence of impact:

• The project’s findings were taken up by high-level policymakers and law enforcement officials in Nigeria, Malawi, and beyond. A toolkit for law enforcement in high-level corruption cases was finalised and shared as part of ongoing engagement to strengthen practice and cooperation.
• A private workshop was held on 29 April with key officials from the US, UK, Nigeria, and Malawi—including EFCC Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa, Malawi’s Director of Public Prosecutions Steve Kayuni, Rob Leventhal from the US State Department, and representatives from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)—to discuss the implications of the research and potential next steps.
• The team also hosted a public event, “From Research to Policy: the ACE Journey to Impact”, on 9 June 2021, which brought together 50 participants to discuss how evidence can inform practice. Plans for in-person events in Abuja and Lilongwe were developed to deepen engagement further, depending on COVID-19 travel conditions.
• Sustained policy engagement followed. In Malawi, the team worked with senior officials who transitioned into key leadership roles, including the Solicitor General at the Ministry of Justice and the Director General of the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC). Ongoing collaboration continued with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the Public Service Reform Management Unit (PSRMU). Dr. Gerhard Anders also advised Malawi’s Parliamentary Committees on Health and Government Assurances.
• In Nigeria, Anders convened a workshop in March 2020 with representatives from all anti-corruption agencies and the legislature to share research findings. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with participants noting that the findings offered new insights and had already informed efforts to improve inter-agency cooperation. The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) began applying several of the project’s recommendations.
• Two follow-up events in April and June 2021 helped to further disseminate the research to officials in Nigeria, Malawi, the US, and the UK. Both the EFCC Chairman and Malawi’s Director of Public Prosecutions publicly endorsed the research and confirmed that recommendations had been taken up in institutional planning and policymaking.

The research team also maintained close engagement with the FCDO (Whitehall, High Commissions in Abuja and Lilongwe) and the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in Washington, DC—ensuring findings fed into international donor strategies and reform dialogue.