By Vincent Gunde
The Centre for Democracy and Development Initiatives [CDEDI] has appealed to the donor community to pool resources that would enable the ACB hire the best lawyers it can get to make progress on a few cases because the political elite has formed an unholy alliance to frustrate the corruption fight.
The CDEDI has challenged President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to prove it wrong by coming in the open and exonerate himself from accusations of manipulation of the ACB report submitted to him and immediately fire Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources Hon. Eisenhower Mkaka MP who the ACB publicly confirmed is under its investigations.
The organization has demanded President Chakwera to explain to Malawians why top government officials namely; Minister of Mines Hon. Albert Mbawala MP, Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] Dr. Steve Kayuni, the Accountant General Jean Munyenyembe and the IFIMS Director Felix Zagwazatha Sato are still discharging their duties in the midst of allegations that they claimed unjustifiable allowances from the Accountant General’s office when junior staff in a similar predicament were arrested and interdicted.
In a statement dated 5th October, 2022 signed by its Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa with the headline ‘’Corruption fight no more,’’ the CDEDI has called on Malawians to realize that they are now on their own as the writing is on the wall that the Tonse Alliance government under President Chakwera is thinking less about their welfare, and let alone their plight.
The CDEDI says President Chakwera spent about 18 minutes in vain to justify his trip to the United Nations General Assembly [UNGA] on his arrival at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe forgetting the crises he had left behind that have forced the economy on to its knees such as fuel shortage, electricity blackouts, and acute shortage of essential drugs and medical supplies in hospitals.
The organization has claimed that this is clearly manifested that his tour of duty to the USA was aimed at painting a rosy picture of the country in the eyes of the international community when the situation on the ground is depressingly dire.
It says if President Chakwera had the welfare of Malawians at heart, he would have seized the opportunity at Kamuzu International Airport to speak on the crises which have rocked the country rather than celebrating the UNGA trip.
…..’’Malawians waited with baited breath to hear President Chakwera say something about the crises which touches on his credibility, but sad, he chose to say nothing about it,’’…..reads the statement in part.
The organization has claimed that President Chakwera’s tenacity to avoid the issues is a clear testimony that Malawians and him as their leader are travelling at different wave length in the fight against corruption.
The CDEDI says if President Chakwera really cared about Malawians, on his return home on Tuesday, 4th October, 2022 he would have addressed the issue of hunger that is threatening the survival of millions of lives owing to the soaring prices and the state of preparedness on the Affordable Input Programme [AIP] now that the 2022/23 growing season is setting in.
