Scotland’s relationship with Malawi goes back a long way.

From the travels of Dr David Livingstone to the fact that Malawi’s former president - and dictator- Hastings Banda was once an elder of the Church of Scotland, there are strong and myriad historical ties.

Today those links are as robust as ever with the Scottish government providing substantial aid to the country and the existence of organisations like the Scotland -Malawi Partnership that represents the many civic links between the two countries.

Just these past few days the leaders of Scotland and Malawi, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and President Peter Mutharika, signed a new joint commitment to work towards the United Nation’s Global Development Goals.

READ MORE: Scotland's links with Malawi are celebrated at Holyrood

The Scottish government too announced a funding deal of £150,000 to boost healthcare in the African nation, adding to the millions of pounds annually that it is already committed to providing.

Having visited Malawi many times I’m in no doubt that the country is in need of the humanitarian support Scotland provides. I’m in no doubt too having witnessed it myself that much of the money given is put to good use helping those that need it most.

But over the past few days as President Mutharika was doing the rounds of Holyrood and speaking about friendships and bonds, all was far from cordial back in his African homeland. Across the country from the capital Lilongwe to cities like Blantyre, Zomba, Mzuzu, Karonga and Rumphi, people took to the streets in protest against the social and economic breakdown that blights much of Malawi.

At the root of the unrest though lie grievances with President Mutharika’s own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which has opposed an Electoral Reform Bill which says that a president would have to get at least 51% of the vote in elections.

As it happened Mr Mutharika only got 36%, when he himself was elected and so the DPP opposed the bill.

With the bill defeated, his government is now alleged to have been ready to reward its own DPP MPs with 4 billion Malawian kwacha MKW (£4 million) between them.

To do this though would require taking the money from district health budgets, with the Malawian government knowing all too well that foreign donors, like the Scottish government, will fill the gap in healthcare provision.

Not surprisingly such a move has cast President Mutharika in an unfavourable light. This has only added to troubles that already include allegations of corruption within his government, something his critics say he has failed to address while applying selective justice on the same issue.

Corruption has cost Malawi dearly in recent years, with a massive plunder of public resources, notably during the so-called Cashgate Scandal of 2013.

The scandal first came to light during the administration of previous President Joyce Banda, though it is believed to have begun even before she took office.

READ MORE: Scotland's links with Malawi are celebrated at Holyrood

It was all uncovered when an accounts assistant in Malawi’s Ministry of Environment was found with several thousand US dollars in his car. A week later, the Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance was shot outside his home, and several other civil servants were found hiding large sums of money, thus unravelling what came to be known as the Cashgate scandal.

Following Cashgate’s revelations, the British government sponsored an independent audit into the affair, focusing on transactions made through Malawi’s electronic financial management system, but to this moment the scandal continues to reverberate along with the latest allegations that surround President Mutharika’s government.

Just a few months ago following the release of the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the watchdog organisation Transparency International, Malawi was recorded as having moved down two places from 120 in 2016 to 122 in 2017.

Such a drop in the index according to University of Malawi economist Ben Kalua has the potential to scare away investors and donors.

“If we drop further, that signals to investors that Malawi is not a good country to invest in. That is not good for us,” Mr Kalua told Malawian news website the Nation recently.

All of this one might hope would focus the minds of the Scottish government as it continues to provide financial support to President Mutharika’s government.

Not for a moment am I suggesting that such financial aid and support should be halted, but that its provision must always be accompanied with the insistence that financial transparency and accountability works in tandem.

Malawi has form when it comes to deeply embedded corruption within its political system. Even those leaders who donors took at their word to clean up the government’s act, like former President Joyce Banda, failed to deliver in this regard

Only this week Mrs Banda returned home to Malawi after four years of self-imposed exile that saw an arrest warrant issued against her for alleged corruption as part of the Cashgate scandal.

READ MORE: Scotland's links with Malawi are celebrated at Holyrood

According to a spokesperson from Ms Banda’s People’s Party (PP) she has returned to help rebuild her party ahead of elections next year.

Time and again during visits I’ve made to Malawi as well as witnessing the good humanitarian work that financial support has made possible, I’ve also heard many Malawians speak of their concerns over corruption, graft and human rights abuses they say are still not being properly addressed by their government.

I’ve listened to them tell how a minister once used pubic funds to finance his wedding reception. I’ve listened also to Malawians complain of how millions of pounds was utilised to build a mausoleum for Malawi’s autocratic first “president-for-life” Hastings Banda, who ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades, rather than it being spent to alleviate the hunger that then gripped the country.

Speaking in Scotland over the past few days President Mutharika said that Scotland’s relationship with Malawi was “rare and precious” in a world where poor countries can be “exploited” by those who claim to support them. He has a point, but exploitation too must also be addressed at home.