Malawi leader appoints banker as anti-corruption chief

Barely three days after throwing a hint on the attributes of the candidate, President Peter Mutharika has appointed First Merchant Bank (FMB) general manager for finance, planning and strategy, Lucas Kondowe, as new Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director.

Chief Secretary to Government, George Mkondiwa, confirmed the development in an interview yesterday.

“Mr. Lucas Kondowe has been appointed to that position and the appointment has been made today [yesterday],” he said.

In a separate interview, Kondowe said he was humbled by the President’s confidence to invite him to participate in the task of “making Malawi a better place”.

“One can only repay such confidence by working hard and with diligence to make a positive difference that the country needs,” he said.

Kondowe promised to lead an ACB that does not keep “sacred cows” or get used to victimising people.

“People must be taken in or left free only based on facts and the law,” he said.

Kondowe’s appointment is subject to approval by the Public Appointment and Declaration of Assets Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly.

PAC chair Lingson Berekanyama was yesterday in the dark regarding the appointment.

During a press briefing on Monday in Blantyre regarding his recent trip to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, Mutharika said someone with a finance background would head the ACB after Supreme Court judge Rezine Mzikamanda who returned to the Judiciary.

“With the kind of job that the ACB does of tracing criminal syndicates to do with stolen money, it is necessary to find someone with expertise in finance,” he said.

Prior to becoming FMB’s general manager, Kondowe served as the bank’s chief financial officer (CFO).

He holds the following qualifications: Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA) [USA and Malawi], Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) [USA], Certified Financial Forensics specialist (CFF) [US], and an MBA and a BBA (Hons) from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa.

He has over 18 years of both local and international work experience having worked for Deloitte & Touche Southern Africa practice (Malawi), PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (USA) and Deloitte & Touche LLP (USA) as senior audit manager predominantly specialising in audits and controls assurance for the financial services sector.

He also worked for the World Bank in Washington DC as a consultant for the Internal Audit Vice-President’s Office.

Kondowe also serves on the following boards: Metropolitan Health Malawi, National Investment Trust Limited and Blantyre Sports Club.