Twist to Baker Tilly list

Hon Folks, First, it was Cashgate convict Oswald Lutepo implicating former president Joyce Banda in the multi-billion kwacha scam. Now, it is another convict, Leonard Kalonga.

Kalonga, a former chief tourism officer, had his day in court on Tuesday, stitching up a picture of how JB, comfortably perched at the helm of government, allegedly used senior government officials and an unscrupulous business person with ties to her own People’s Party, to fleece government of billions of kwacha for the running of PP.

Interestingly, Kalonga’s account in court included a tale of an incident when in his presence, Lutepo had a telephone conversation with JB in which the businessman, who was also an executive member of PP, reportedly assured the former president of bringing more Cashgate money for campaign.

Lutepo reportedly switched on the speakers of his phone so Kalonga could hear for himself what the person on the other end was saying. I guess it was a way of assuring the civil servant that the loot was serving the intended purpose and that the players could rest assured that they had the protection of the highest authority on the land.

Kalonga goes further to say when the Cashgate scam was exposed and fear gripped players on the network, his own boss, Secretary for Tourism Tressa Senzani—herself a Cashgate convict who is already serving time—reportedly assuaged him by saying “the president will protect us”.

A president protecting criminals? I, for one, would like to wake up someday and realise it is a dream. It is too much to imagine that a leader who has it all at our expense, including a person to carry an umbrella when it is sunny or drizzling, can stoop so low as to betray our trust and use their authority to “exercise power of the State” by robbing the Treasury.

JB always argues that such allegations are the machinations of the APM administration to get at her by hook or crook. I would like to believe her, but that is not enough, especially considering that it is Lutepo who first admitted indulging in Cashgate as a conduit for her.

Of course, in reaction she claimed Lutepo was under intense pressure to implicate her. But these are claims she makes in the court of public opinion while on the run from her own country. If she is innocent, why not come home and if need be, face her detractors in court?

JB made poor Malawians pay the price for the serious economic blunders of her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika. She won the admiration of western donors when at once she devalued the kwacha by 49 percent and floated it in the same breath, a move that sapped more and more power from the currency.

The pain such an action caused could have led to protests but Malawians believed their President when she said there was light at the end of the tunnel. That light is no longer there. The donors, who hiked their contribution to the national budget from 30 to 40 percent in 2013, abandoned budgetary support immediately Cashgate was exposed later same year, leaving us with a huge hole in the recurrent budget.

That hole keeps on growing bigger and bigger. The heavily indebted Malawi government keeps on taxing poverty-stricken citizens more and more. Yet things do not still add up. If JB, in any way caused or aggravated this suffering during the two years we entrusted her with sovereign authority, then it is only fair that she should face the law, just like Lutepo, Kalonga and Senzani.

Her argument that her name was not mentioned in the Baker Tilly report may not be premised on truth, which could be plausible only if anyone imputed her direct involvement in Cashgate.  Nobody is saying that.

Lutepo admitted it was he, not JB, who got directly involved. What he also alleged was that JB was using him. Likewise, Kalonga has admitted that he is the one who indulged in Cashgate. He has also said he never directly dealt with JB on Cashgate.

But he mentioned in court that he was assured that the money he collected was delivered to the State House. In addition, he claims to have listened to a conversation between Lutepo and JB which gave an indication on how the Cashgate money was being used—campaign for the 2014 polls.

From what Kalonga said in court, it appears that both he and his PS had reason to believe that the President would protect them from prosecution. This twist to the story is hard to detect by forensic audit, isn’t it?