If Peter Mutharika were in charge…
And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Luke 16:1-2; KJV
Today, I feel compelled to perform a duty that I, who take great pride in seeing people – especially young professionals take positions of leadership – would have preferred not to undertake.
This duty, esteemed Blue Talkers, is to demand the immediate dismissal of the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), who is doing everything but fighting graft in this high and formerly respected office he was wrongly elevated to.
And once this protector of the corrupt has been fired; naming, shaming and prosecuting the seven hungry hyenas keeping the President company should follow regardless of whether, like the President, are Lumbadzi holding cell graduates or not.
To emphasise that there is nothing personal behind this demand, those of you who follow developments will agree that the Malawi Law Society (MLS), the donor community and many Malawians of goodwill are not amused by the disrepute into which the ACB Director General, Lucas Kondowe, has – in record time – dragged the ACB.
Again, in case there are any strangers, the seven ministers’ continued holding onto office is what is not only sowing the impunity going by the ACB Czar’s speedy and shameless abandon of all things ethical, that will be the end of us.
Even before we discuss the ACB Czar’s spirited attempts to derail the very straightforward K1.7 billion corruption case involving former president Bakili Muluzi, now ripe and waiting for a logical conclusion, I want to remind you that from the outset, this ACB Czar’s appointment looked suspicious.
But since by nature we Malawians are generous to a fault, even in poverty, we gave him the benefit of doubt and held our peace.
Knowing that proof of the pudding is in the eating, we wished him all the best and celebrated – prematurely it seems – that young professionals are being recognised.
We were wrong, or as Nkasa crooned, mphuno salota tinawombera mfiti mmanja!
We should have consulted more and widely and waited.
Read on, I will explain.
Who, among us, has not read or heard of the Scripture: Luke 16:1-12 which tells the tale of the crooked (read = corrupt) steward?
If you have not read this, or have forgotten the moral of the story, grab your Bible or use google to refresh your memory.
Once you have done that, you will need no further proof that in the current ACB Czar we have the ultimate crooked steward, and together we will demand that this crooked steward be fired, now, now, now before he does worse things.
Anyway, for those who need things spelt in black and white, what Kondowe is doing is sowing what he wants to reap after his tenure is over.
He is, on taxpayers money and in total disregard of the laws of Malawi, making political capital in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
How? By shielding that chap Richard Makondi, by shielding the seven hyenas that wine and dine with His Excellency, by denying us our pound of flesh-robbing us of a logical conclusion of the Muluzi trial (should he need the United Democratic Front’s sympathy at some point), by shying away from asking Scotland Yard to help investigate the death of late Issa Njauju; by his foiling the (initial) arrest of a private practice lawyer on allegations that he bribed an officer from the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and more importantly by dragging his feet in that ‘case’ where he claimed to have received a suspicious K2 million deposit in his account.
I am not done.
His efforts to build political capital at our and late Njauju’s expense is why the ACB, on his instructions, is hiding the Leonard Kalonga list of Cashgate beneficiaries that has names from way before president Joyce Banda’s era and implicates some DPP top guns.
It is because of all these issues and more will follow next week that I find the diplomatic tone in the recent MLS statement regrettable.
If the MLS thinks that the ACB, under the current leadership will change, it might as well try lifting Mulanje Mountain to plant it in the Shire Valley.
Having said that, I want to wholeheartedly agree with the MLS that since Kondowe thinks the case against Muluzi is weak, he should hand it over to the team that recently successfully saw Raphael Kasambara convicted.
That team proved that it is beyond intimidation and I am sure it would relish having a go at an errant former president, fresh as it is from a resounding victory over another-has-been.
If Mary Kachale needs a section to grab this case from the ACB, Section 99 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi mandates her accordingly.
As to what next, the MLS did not mince words.
“We would further recommend to the DPP to immediately appoint a special independent prosecutor in exercise of her powers under Section 100 (1) of the Constitution as read with Section 79 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code. The special independent prosecutor would, accordingly, proceed to evaluate the evidence that the State has in this case and to take such appropriate further steps as shall be informed by the outcome of the evaluation.”
Kondowe has wasted his chance, the seven hyenas no longer belong in Cabinet but in prison.
If President Peter Mutharika was half a man, he would have known that his office is not the right arena for playing hide-and-seek with Kamlepo Kalua. He would have by now relieved us of the incompetent Lucas Kondowe before he poisons the well further, and those hyenas before they cashgate the little that is left of our coffers.
Sadly, Peter Mutharika has proven, this far, that he so loved the corrupt ministers and Kondowe that whosoever believed he was in charge, fighting corruption, should doubt no more of his incapacity.
But we should not give up the fight!
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
