The Public Accounts Committee (Pac) has said it will not involve itself in the matters involving procurement of security equipment for Malawi Defence Force and the Malawi Police Service as reported in the forensic report on the K577 billion audit.
The audit covered the period between January 2009 to December 2014.
The report says overpricing is another area where government lost money and it names the procurement of police and army equipment such as teargas as example of such a practice.
But Pac Vice Chairperson, Kamlepo Kalua, argued in an interview on Wednesday that security matters should not be discussed in the public but he urged both the Auditor General and Attorney General to take over if they wish.
Kamlepo said the parliamentary committee’s concern is to probe reports that seven ministers have been implicated in the alleged corruption.
“We will see to it that the seven cabinet ministers implicated in the forensic audit report are investigated to face the law. But in our meetings we are not discussing things of national security because security matters are secret in nature.
“I know that people would want to know, but we are talking about national security here. If we are careless we’ll be putting our national security at risk, so as Pac we have discussed that issues of national security should not be discussed in Public Accounts Committee meetings,” disclosed Kalua.
However, he advised the Auditor General and the Attorney General to take up the issues concerning fraud at the Police and Army.
“I appeal to the Auditor General and Attorney General to handle these things with care, and they should advise the Anti Corruption Bureau accordingly to offer some priorities in trying to get to the bottom of the issues.
“Let me also appeal to the government that issues of national security with effect from today should be handled properly with Internal Procurement
Committee (IPC). It should also be done with the knowledge of authority as well as the Auditor General. This is a move to avoid certain disclosures which is not good for our national security,” said Kalua.
When contacted, the Attorney General, Kalekeni Kaphale, who argued in the past that overpricing is not an issue claiming there are people who didn’t supply anything but got payment, said he has taken note of the Pac decision and will act where necessary.
“I have taken note of Pac’s position and I wouldn’t want to make any further comment on the issues. If I change my position on the matter, the Ant Corruption Bureau and all concerned stakeholders will be informed accordingly,” Kaphale said.
But the Attorney General said one such company, Rummage Pace, one of the companies that offered services to the Malawi Defence Force and the Malawi Police Service, has been duly cleared by his office.
“My reading of the report, which I have done several times shows that the main issue in the transactions involving the companies that supplied security equipment were overpricing. Government normally does not buy from the source. It buys from middlemen. Middlemen usually quote their prices higher,” said Kaphale as quoted in Malawi News dated November 01- 07, 2014.
The forensic audit report claims the national security agents were getting equipment such as rubber bullets, tear gas and vehicles among others at exorbitant prices.
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