Six Malawi ex-ministers face prosecution by Mabvuto Banda , 20 August 2004 - 15:48:58

The Director of Public Prosecutions said on Thursday he will prosecute six former ministers for penal code offences ranging from abuse of office, criminal negligence and fraud following recommendations by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. DPP Ishmael Wadi said the ACB probed the six—Peter Fachi, Patrick Mbewe, Clement Stambuli, Philip Bwanali, Salimu Bagus and Friday Jumbe—sometime back but there was lack of political will to have them prosecuted.

“The ACB collected information and what is to be done is to arrest the people and then charge them. These people were not prosecuted because there was no political will and they know very well what they did,” he said. But the ex-ministers, who served in the government of former President Bakili Muluzi, this week described the DPPs decision to revive their cases as political persecution and witch hunting.

Stambuli said on Thursday that the ACB never asked him about anything. “Ask my lawyers Kalekeni Kaphale on that,” Stambuli said. Kaphale could not be reached because he is out of the country. Bagus wondered why the ACB should complete investigations “without hearing my side of the story.” This is pure political witch-hunting,” he said.

Jumbe said his conscious is clear on the maize issue saying it’s time people knew the truth. The Commission of Inquiry will be releasing its findings soon. Fachi also accused the DPP of witch-hunting while Mbewe and Bwanali could not be reached for comment. But Wadi hit back and warned the ex-ministers to be cautious with their statements and stop hiding under the political umbrella.

“By accusing me of witch-hunting they are in fact undermining my office and I reserve the right to take drastic measures against them and I would rather advise them to stop accusing me of that and start looking for lawyers before the cases start,” Wadi warned.
The Bureau disclosed in a faxed report that it recommended prosecution for ministers and public officers involved in the $32 million IDs contract, the $7.6 million Land Rover deal, the K2.9 billion maize scam, wrongful authorisation of K14 million of payment to city assembly, K559,216 for licence to import chickens by Commerce Ministry and cars bought at Ministry of Information.

ACB said that in all these cases under the previous Corrupt Act, they did not find corruption but offences under the penal code which only the DPP could act on. But Bureau was non committal to mention names of ex-ministers recommended for prosecution. “Its unethical for us to tell you the names of people involved. We will only do that in court,” said spokesperson Egrita Ndala on Thursday.

A source close to the probe said ex-Home Affairs Minister Patrick Mbewe and former Justice Minister Peter Fachi are the ministers implicated in the Land Rover scandal for abuse of office. “Friday Jumbe faces prosecution for criminal negligence for his role as Admarc general manager in the 2001 maize shortage, Mbewe is implicated again for abuse of office in the $32 million national IDs case, Stambuli for abuse of office when he was Minister of information, Bagus for wrongful authorisation of K14 million payment for city assemblies when he was Minister of Local Government last year and Philip Bwanali as Commerce Minister for issuing a license to import chickens despite a ban,” said the source.

The DPP and ACB have been meeting for some time to discuss the cases. The latest meeting was on Monday this week. Both the DPP and ACB confirmed the meeting discussed how to proceed on the cases. In the Land Rover case, government only managed to prosecute Bashil Ntavhani, owner of Apex Car Sales, the company that got the contract circumventing City Motors, the Land Rover franchise holders in Malawi.

Muluzi stopped the ID contract as recommended by the ACB but no one was prosecuted. ACB findings show that the contract was allegedly awarded to Secucom without following tender procedures. The maize scam was uncovered after the National Food Reserve Agency ran out of maize from the strategic grain reserve. This caused massive hunger in months leading to 2001 and cost tax payers K2 billion. President Bingu wa Mutharika has embarked on a massive crackdown on high level graft since pledging in his inaugural speech on May 23, 2004 that no one will be spared.

‘EC rigged for UDF’
by Mabvuto Banda

The opposition has described the differences between initial and gazetted results of the May 20 polls as “a testimony of electoral fraud” and demanded that Electoral Commission Chair Justice James Kalaile should step down . MCP spokesperson Bintony Kutsaira said on Thursday the differences in number of votes is enough proof that the commission announced results before final compilation.

In the gazette, Bingu wa Mutharika’s votes rose to 1,195,586 from 1,119,738 as announced by Kalaile at the tally centre in May. His runner-up John Tembo is recorded as having amassed 937,965, 91 as opposed to 846,457 announced earlier and Gwanda Chakuamba scooped 836,118 votes from 802,386. “This is a true reflection that they deliberately twisted and delayed the results to rig for the UDF. This is a big testimony that they were biased because we asked them not to declare results before attending to all complaints but they ignored us and went ahead,” Kutsaira said.

Legal Adviser for Mgwirizano Coalition Kamuzu Chibambo demanded that Kalaile step down. Chibambo described the results as a big shame “because we don’t know which results to believe, the gazetted ones or the results he announced at the tally centre.” Chibambo said this is why the Mgwirizano Coalition and MCP jointly decided to challenge the results. He said they suspected electoral fraud by the commission.

“In the first place, the PPEA stops the chairman from announcing any results if there are any results missing, or all results are not in,” he said. Section 96 (3) (4) says if any record from any district or other element necessary for the continuation and conclusion of the determination of the national result of the election is missing, the chairman of the commission shall take necessary steps to rectify the situation and may, in such case, suspend the determination for a period not exceeding 72 hours.

Subsection 4 also asks representatives of political parties designated in writing to the commission to be entitled to observe the determination of the national result of the election. Moses Mkandawire of the Malawi Electoral Support Network (Mesn) said the commission has put in doubt its credibility by changing the figures.

“You cannot change the figures after announcing. This automatically destroys the validity of the results,” Mkandawire said. But Personal Assistant to Commission Chairperson Willie Kalonga defended the commission’s decision to announce the results before all results from polling centres.

“Suppose we receive results from five centres and indications are that most of the people in those centres are likely to vote for one candidate, what do we do? “This is what happened, because we had taken long to announce results and there was a lot of pressure for us to do so,” Kalonga said. He said the gazetted results are a reflection of complaints, nullified results taken into account and after collecting everything.

UDF Spokesperson Mary Kaphwereza Banda said the UDF was not happy with the numbers in the Central Region but defended the commission, saying they should not be blamed. “Why should you blame them? The Electoral Commission is not for UDF. It has members from MCP, Aford and UDF. So, what these parties that are complaining should do is to look at their people in the commission,” she said........ http://www.nationmalawi.com/