Demand for Cashgate buses high
Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale has said several government departments have asked his office to allocate them Cashgate buses which have been idle at National Police Headquarters for the past three years.
Three of the buses have already been dispatched to Malawi Police Service (MPS), Malawi Defence Force (MDF) and Malawi Prison Service (MPS).
Automotive Products Limited (APL), franchise dealers for the Scania buses, has just finalised servicing the fourth bus which has been given to Airport Development Limited (ADL,) whose one passenger shuttle caught fire last month.
The remaining two are still at Police headquarters in Area 30.
Kaphale said his office would eventually dispose of all the buses.
He said he had no information on the condition of the buses, their location or whether they have been disposed of.
“I am not aware that they are undergoing maintenance, but after the physical disposal of the other three we have been receiving requests and making recommendations. Actually, the recommendations were more than three and as usual, we always check with the superiors [of departments making requests],” Kaphale said.
However, in a separate interview National Police spokesperson Nicholas Gondwa said all the buses have been disposed of.
He dismissed reports of theft of parts from the buses while in the custody of Police, but confirmed that the buses are going to APL for service.
“This is a normal process. Whenever a car or vehicle stays idle for more than a year, it needs to be serviced,” he said.
The buses were impounded from the Scania franchise supplier by fiscal Police on allegations that they were illegally and personally purchased by convicted former assistant director of Ministry of Tourism Leonard Kalonga with funding from the government.
In May this year, the High Court in Lilongwe ruled that government should take possession of the six Cashgate buses which were worth over K520 million in 2013 and dispose of them.
