BY WATIPASO MZUNGU,
A CONTRIBUTOR
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have given President Peter Mutharika up to 14 days to resign or face impeachment over his alleged complicity in fraudulent transactions in a ration packs contract between Malawi Police Service and Pioneer Investments.
The demand follows revelations of a leaked Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation report, which suggests that Mutharika might have benefited from the scheme.
The report says on April 13 2016, Zameer Karim [of Pioneer Investments] issued a cheque from Pioneer Investment account to National Bank worth K145 million and instructed the bank to deposit the said amount into Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) account domiciled at Standard Bank.
Mutharika is said to have opened the said Standard Bank account number 014003192200 and is its sole signatory.
The CSOs, trading under the banner of Human Rights Defenders Coalition, said in Lilongwe yesterday that following these revelations, Mutharika has lost the mandate to govern.
In a statement issued after addressing the media, the coalition’s Chairperson, Timothy Mtambo, and his vice, Gift Trapence, said they are concerned that the State President is implicated in a serious crime that borders on corrupt practices.
“It is sad to note that some of such schemes are championed by people hitherto thought to be in the lead in the fight against corruption and fraud. These issues indicate that the rot in the system starts from the top and therefore any attempts to root out corruption in this country should start from the executive and cascade to all other institutions. With this background information at hand, we demand that Section 91 (2) of the Republican Constitution be amended in order to remove the President’s immunity from investigation and possible prosecution. We advocate this approach because it is preventative than curative.
“We call upon the Anti- Corruption Bureau and the Financial Intelligence Authority to urgently prosecute the suspects and that the Treasury must provide resources for the speedy conclusion of this exercise. And given that there is enough evidence to show that the President benefited from this scheme and that he is serious about fighting corruption, we demand that he honourably steps down with immediate effect in order to pave way for prosecution,” reads the statement in part.
The human rights defenders have further called upon the Speaker of the National Assembly to convene Parliament as a matter of urgency and commence impeachment proceedings against Mutharika and that the Treasury should provide the requisite financial resources to facilitate the process.
“We call upon all senior police officers implicated in this scheme to resign and pave way for further investigations and prosecution. Meanwhile, we are calling upon all Malawians of goodwill to sign a petition calling on the State President to go via ♯mutharikamustgo,” they said.
Mtambo said the CSOs will mobilise Malawians in a national protest should Mutharika and the senior police officers suspected to have played a key role in the transaction choose to ignore the call for voluntary resignation.
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera said he is equally shocked by the revelation.
Chakwera said he will soon address the nation on the matter.
“I have just arrived from Brussels. And I have heard about the report. So, I am thinking that in a few days coming, I should address the nation through the media about our reaction to the issue,” he said.
Former president Joyce Banda’s spokesperson, Andekuche Chanthunya, said Banda will soon issue a public statement on the matter.
Chancellor College-based political analyst, Mustapha Hussein, said it is too early for the CSOs to demand Mutharika’s resignation or impeachment.
Hussein said there is need for the graft-busing body to dig deeper into the matter and report back to the citizens about what really happened so that Malawians choose the best option to take on the matter.
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