Two of the country\u2019s civil society organisations, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for Development of the People (Cedep), have implored government to urgently institute investigations into the recent claims made before the court implicating former President Joyce Banda in Cashgate.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite claiming she called for investigations into reports of corruption in her PP administration, reports linking her to enjoying unexplained wealth keep growing,\u201d states a joint statement signed by Timothy Mtambo and Gift Trapence CHRR and Cedep executive directors, respectively.<\/p>\n
The two say even attempts by the then People\u2019s Party (PP) administration to portray the revelation of Cashgate as a \u201cbreakthrough\u201d and a testimony of JB\u2019s systematic fight against corruption seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prevailing public opinion seems to suggest that Joyce Banda is the \u201cchief Cashgater\u201d or the \u201cbig fish\u201d in this K24 billion Cashgate,\u201d the two claim.<\/p>\n
Just recently, Cashgate prisoner Osward Lutepo and former Assistant Director of Tourism Leonard Kalonga implicated Banda as one of the people who are alleged to have either been involved or benefited from Cashgate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel these claims shouldn\u2019t just be taken lightly considering the fact that Malawians are waiting with bated breath to see justice being not only done but also seen in the infamous Cashgate,\u201d said Mtambo and Trapence.<\/p>\n
The CSO heads advised government not to be afraid to investigate, and where necessary prosecute, the former head of State merely for fear of being labelled as embarking on political witch-hunt against her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as there is credible evidence, the State is obliged to act and ensure that justice is done and seen in the general interest of Malawians,\u201d the two say.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all, no one is above the law, and the notion that political power can be a safe haven for impunity would create dangerous double standards and set a bad precedence,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
The activists also say that it is in the same breath that they call upon Banda, as a matter of moral principle, to come back home and clear herself in this saga.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former president needs to know that her continued self-exile is doing more harm than good not only to her political career but most importantly to the general public who seem to hold the opinion that the former head of State is evading justice in the infamous Cashgate in the process indirectly validating the existing public perception that she is the possible \u201cbig fish\u201d,\u201d the statement says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s high time the former Malawi leader came out of her cocoon and cleared herself in this Cashgate scandal,\u201d the two add.<\/p>\n
They also called on all Malawians irrespective of political, social or religious divide, to directly participate in the fight against impunity for the \u201ccrime\u201d of Cashgate so that those responsible for \u2013whoever they are and wherever they are \u2013 can be held accountable for this crime that gravely offends human dignity and human rights.<\/p>\n
The two say there is need for speeding up of the investigations on cashgate related matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe K92 billion saga must be dealt with and we need political will on this,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has said it will proceed to investigate in detail claims made by Lutepo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two of the country\u2019s civil society organisations, the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for Development of the People (Cedep), have implored government to urgently institute investigations into the recent claims made before the court implicating former President Joyce Banda in Cashgate. \u201cDespite claiming she called for investigations into reports of corruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8450,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8446\/revisions\/8450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}