Leave no room for impunity
March 3 2022
As I write, the demonstrations organised by the Citizens Against Impunity and Corruption are expected tomorrow. The demos come at a time so much is coming in the open that there has been just too much rot, as some people have been fleecing the government coffers like nobody’s business.
It was absolutely wondrous how Lilongwe DC Lawford Palani tried to stop the train! In a nutshell, the citizens claim ‘We want to know Mr Ashok, and he should also know us’. Ashok Nair poked the hornets’ nest when he sued Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director Martha Chizuma for defamation over a recorded private telephone conversation.
Again, I repeat, why has the man who was talking to Chizuma been left to go scot-free? I will ask, once more, who sent him to trick Chizuma into going deeper about the intricacies of her office? Who? Who has been behind all this?
It really doesn’t sound well that Ashok, who is under investigation by the ACB for suspicious dealings, should go ahead to sue Chizuma.
The courts are independent and they will determine whether Ashok has a case against Chizuma. But that should not stop the people from going on the street to question Ashok’s motives. It is their constitutional right. It was, indeed, wondrous that Palani should say demonstrations could not be held as the case was in court.
This week has seen a lot of banter against Indians. Racism has no place in a just society. But then, where did the locution that ‘Dziko ndi wanu, ndalama ndi wathu’ come from?
When the time to vote comes, how many Indians do you see on the line to vote? It’s not racism, but basic questions.
Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda pointed out that four businesspersons top the list of people who are claiming K2 trillion from the government. Please, note that this year’s budget is pegged at K2.84 trillion.
Out of this Abdul Karim Batatawala claims K250 billion, that is K83 billion less than the allocation in the 2022-23 budget to the health sector. Another claim is from Ramchard Hashmattrai who was claiming K131 billion (more than the K109 billion allocation to the Agriculture Inputs Programme). The High Court, however, stopped the claim against the one-party rule’s forfeiting his property.
The third claim topping the list was from Shiraz Ferreira who is claiming K30 billion (if Malawi had 300 constituencies, each would get K100 million). The fourth claim is from Leston Mulli, at K18 billion.
We can’t go to mention that the top three are Malawians of Asian origin. This has always been an expression of sorts. At some point, I guess, we will have some Asians of Malawian origin. But that is a racist line of thought.
The point is, it is clear that had the Democratic Progressive Party still been in power, all these payments would have been made without raising an eyebrow. It goes without saying that we have been saved from some colossal pilferage with the change of regime.
The only hope is that the Tonse Alliance administration can as well know that a change in government lays bare some of the ills you thought were forgotten.
Which is why there is hope in the pressure the Citizens Against Impunity and Corruption have started putting. Before the christening, they have been on the forefront fighting for data to fall and right now Malawians are smilling all the way as service providers have dropped their bundle rates. This comes barely a month after President Lazarus Chakwera, in the State of the Nation Adress on February 2 indicated that data would fall by 75 percent after stakeholders went on a round table.
It is clear that when the civil society and activists stand on the side of Malawians, and action is taken, we all stand to benefit.
