JB dismisses suggestions to fire top government officials
Malawi President Joyce Banda on Wednesday dismissed suggestions to have top government officials that presided over Capital Hill ‘cash-gate scandal’ to resign or be removed, to pave way for independent investigations, arguing the relevant State organs are still probing the matter.
Banda, responding to questions from journalists at Sanjika Palace in Malawi’s commercial city Blantyre during a news conference heavily patronised by Cabinet ministers and People’s Party (PP) cadres upon her arrival from the US, argued the looting of public funds started way before her administration, citing the 30 percent annual Treasury losses mentioned by former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Fahad Assani and the late Bingu wa Mutharika K61 billion ($152m) wealth.
The journalists specifically called for the removal of the Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga and Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) Hawa Ndilowe, among others.
No scared cows
The President, while assuring the public she would not spare anyone involved in the scam, said a smear tactic, where those who looted public funds and shared want to implicate others would not work, arguing: “A thief is the one who stole and is caught.”
On shot budget director Paul Mphwiyo, the President, for the second time, said he was targeted for his fight against corruption and fraud, contrary to suggestions put to her that he may have been involved in the faulty system.
The President said prior to his shooting, the budget director wrote the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) proposing that the public tax collector should be deducting tax from any payment government was going to make to those that deal with government—as some of the measures that her administration has instituted.
Banda also disclosed that following the shooting of the budget director, she has ordered State agents to reopen a case where an individual was found with more than K404 million (about $1.1m) in his bank account under the leadership of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Ongoing probe
The President also said she smelt a rat when it transpired that the late president amassed K61 billion (about $152m), saying this was the time she consulted widely with others to start investigating how this was happening.
On presidential assets declaration, she said she is looking at it as a gender issue (where people think she is a soft target because she is a woman), arguing Malawians never bothered past leaders as they are doing with her because they feared them.
She said she has asked the Attorney General to ensure that proposals are included in the law to ensure that outgoing presidents are asked what they have accumulated and that the net should be cast wider, to include other top government officials.
The President also said she is seeking an early meeting of Parliament to look into the Assets Declaration Bill as well as setting up a special unit in the Malawi Police Service to fast-track the current investigations.
She dismissed reports by donors who recently requested her administration to seek external aid in the investigations, saying it was Lilongwe that moved the donors first.
As part of the way forward, Banda said she is also waiting for briefs from her Cabinet before she takes any action, disclosing there is a Cabinet meeting today.
The news conference came at a time the donor community and civil society organisations have asked the Banda administration not to blame the cash-gate scandal on a computer fault or a weak government financial system, but get to the root of the plunder by hooking out the big fish involved.
