The Forum for National Development (FND) on Saturday hit at the CCAP Livingstonia Synod, accusing it of being hard-hearted against former Malawi Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
But the synod has maintained its position that the public needs to be told the whole truth about cashgate scandal.
Last week, the synod slammed government on its failure to come out clean on circumstances leading to the massive looting of billions of public funds at Capital Hill, which it described as outrageous to the country. The synod said Mphwiyo is not giving answers which the public is looking for on the missing links on cashgate.
The synod also said cashgate was a disgrace to Malawi in 2013 and a symptom of widespread corruption, adding it hopes the courts will handle cashgate trials professionally, accordingly and lawfully while ensuring that this does not spill to the post-poll period.
In a statement issued at a press conference in the capital, Lilongwe and signed by the forum’s chairperson Bright Kampaundi and national coordinator Fryson Chodzi, FND argues the synod’s sentiments would interfere with Mphwiyo’s recovery.
“The Forum for National Development [FND] while appreciative of the clergy’s role in providing spiritual guidance on national issues to their flock, is disturbed by CCAP Synod of Livingstonia’s agitation for government to bend Malawi’s justice delivery system without due regard to individual freedom and legal ramifications of such potential violation of the laws of Malawi as well as the principles of fairness and justice.
“We also find the synod’s shocking display of hard-heartedness against the recuperating former budget director Mr. Paul Mphwiyo, who is still going through physical and emotional pain after being shot several times in the head last September,”as counter to Christian values and our Lord Jesus Christ’s unconditional loving spirit,” reads the statement in part.
The forum says the synod appears to worry more about cashgate than Mphwiyo who, it says, almost lost his life when he was shot at his house in September.
“The synod, based on its own public pronouncements and denouncements on cashgate, is neither concerned with Mr. Mphwiyo’s spiritual stand then and now nor does the Church appear to have any inclination to pray for this family’s spiritual renewal as our Lord Jesus Christ would have done,” reads the statement.
In an interview yesterday, the synod’s moderator Reverend Timothy Nyasulu said they would not comment on FND’s statement but reiterated that the public has not yet been told the whole truth on cashgate.
“We have been misled because when Mphwiyo was shot, government was the first to tell us that Mphwiyo’s shooting was connected to the fight against corruption and immediately the whole issue of cashgate came out.
“When Mphwiyo returned from South Africa, everybody expected that something touching the hearts of people would come out. But until now, nothing is coming out clear from government or Mphwiyo himself,” said Nyasulu.
