Speedy investigations will stop speculation
There appears to be some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against widespread abuse of public resources at Capital Hill with revelations that data that may have been deleted here at home is intact elsewhere and can be retrieved. This is obviously bad news for those who were somehow involved in the futile attempt to conceal all information that would have incriminated them, but the country should be better off for it.
It goes without saying that there is a lot of wrongdoing that takes place in our midst but many people get away with some of it either because they are not caught or, where they are unfortunate enough to be caught, there is no solid evidence to nail them on. That only serves to give massive encouragement to existing and potential culprits to carry on with their indiscretions at the expense of the wider public interests.
One hopes the information that is hoped to be retrieved from the backup system will be comprehensive enough to provide all potential leads to how people at various levels of government conspired to fleece the rest of us. This is necessary not only to identify and mete out appropriate punishments to the culprits, but also to discover ways of sealing all the loopholes that were used to avoid repeat behaviour.
With the tempers of most Malawians apparently raised to ever-soaring levels, it is also important that the process of unravelling the racket that has plundered government resources for some time be done as speedily as is humanly possible. It is important to keep in mind always that nature abhors a vacuum and if accurate and comprehensive information is not timely provided, speculation and rumours abound.
It is also important to note that those who were at the centre of this racket are not entirely foolish and as investigators close in on them, they are not sitting idle but doing everything to cover their tracks. The more timethey are given to do this the higher the chances that some culprits may just get away with murder. Everything must be done to ensure that this is not the case with this investigation.
