Karonga DC pressured over missing K51million
Pressure continues to mount on District Commissioner (DC) for Karonga, Rosemary Moyo, for her perceived tolerance and lenience towards some public officers accused of misuse of public resources.
The recent to add voice on the matter is the Karonga District Chapter of the Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn).
In a statement signed by Mejn Secretary, Christobel Shaba, the network has said that it is dismayed at reports of extensive abuse of public funds with no practical action against the suspected culprits.
“We expected practical action against the officers based on government procedures. Such officers could have been disciplined, reported to Malawi Police and prosecuted according to the law,” the statement reads in part.
This comes at the height of reports that K51 million meant for the Public Works Programme under the first quarter of the fourth cycle of the Malawi Social Action Fund (Masaf) went missing in goods that were not purchased for the exercise.
The network disclosed that it conducted an independent investigation into the matter and that reports of resources’ misappropriation from different Area Development Committees (ADC) were vindicated.
For instance, at Miyombo scheme, Chairperson Kennedy Mwenelwanga reported that out of 39 bags of cement that were expected to be delivered, only 10 made it to the site.
At Mwenitete it was observed that instead of two culvert lines that could use 10 culverts, only one line was constructed, with five culverts.
“We ask the district authorities to clean up the mess by querying all those that were mentioned by the Public Works Committee during full council meetings so that there should be investigative action and redress such syndicate once and for all that is bent to destroy Karonga,” the statement adds.
Some of the officers implicated are District Lands Officer Phillimon Maseko and Financial analyst Chiza Chirambo.
But Moyo said in a separate interview that her job is not to act on people but implement recommendations by the full council which comprises service committees.
She said: “I have always asked for evidence against my juniors but no one has brought any to my attention.”
Commenting on the accusations, Maseko accused people in the district of witch-hunting and hence insisted he stands to be exonerated by any official investigation
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