JB says EU support was key in fight against corruption in Malawi

March 28, 2015 Nyasa Times Reporter 78 Comments

At the Women In Parliaments Global Forum Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, former Malawian President Joyce Banda spoke exclusively with EurActiv’s Rick Zednik about the support she received from EU officials in rebuilding her country’s economy.

Banda: became the West's darling for her reformist agenda after the death of her autocratic predecessor, said she should be given credit for tackling the graft head-on.
Banda: Said she tackled the graft head-on as soon as she got wind of it

“For the past 15 years, corruption had been going on, 30 percent of our resources were being stolen,” Banda said.

“The EU ambassador [Alexander Baum] told me that our financial system in government was being abused,” she added.

She says her zeal to crackdown on cashgate earned her bruises and smear campaign by the allegations of involvement, but would not be deterred.

Banda argues that she initiated appropriate steps, including investigating, apprehending and prosecuting suspects as soon as she became aware of the allegations of cashgate

The financial management system which looters abused was adopted in 2005 by the late Bingu wa Mutharika administration.

Banda became president in 2012 following the sudden death of Bingu wa Mutharika; she had been vice-president although she had been fired from the then ruling party and had formed her own party.

As one of only two women to have held that office in an African country, she was named the most powerful woman in Africa by Forbes in 2014.

Since leaving office, she has focused her energies on the Joyce Banda Foundation, a charitable organisation that focuses on women and children.

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78 replies on “JB says EU support was key in fight against corruption in Malawi”

  4. Mama am sending you all my love! Ntchito munaigwira povumbulusa cashgate. Kupanda inu mai akanapanga ndani? May God Bless you mother Malawi!

  5. Thats why Bingu anamchosa mu chipani JB. Amadziwa kuti JB akumuwerenga . Amafuna kuti atalikire asamaone zimene Bingu amachita. Tsegukani maso a Malawi. Mwaiwona imeneyo! BRAINSTORMING. A solving problem tactic! Another tactic, 5 WHYS? Why Bingu or DPP emphasised to remove JB? Another tactic. Lewis forces . Two sides having two interest s to remove each other from powers. Pitani mkalasi kuti mudziwe izi. Its all about Project. All what is happening here is a project to acheive a goal. Leadership to gain something. Panyopanu!

  7. It is time JB ceased her travels around the globe speaking to this group and then that group. She should be here in Malawi striving to put her ideas into operation. Her first act after becoming President in 2012 should have been to put the plotters on train for treason. Had she done so, APM would not now be President and Malawi would perhaps be moving forward. JB has too much to say in foreign lands; she should be here working to improve her country.

  8. Everything that goes up will definetery comes down amayi. Kwanu ndi kwanu nthengo munalaka njoka. WHAT ARE YOU FEARING TO COME BACK HOME YOU WOMAN?

  13. Commentwe miss our good JB .chakachino titha ndi njala,akungopeza ndalama zogula paint basi for lumbazi zoti this yr is ahunger striken yr alibe ma plan.anabesa anamuvoterawo bwanji

    1. Nkhani yanjala musamadalire presdent ayi. Zithamangan nokha. Mukumachulukana ndi cholinga kuti boma likuthandizeni? Mwauponda achimwene

  16. Iwe joshua if she is lying say the truth. You mean there was no plundering of resources?
    Dont live in denial Bingu started this was cautioned by EU in turn he said it was blatant lie and Perks ligoya qualified this with a memo to bingu himself.
    Shud we remind you of forex sellers at game who revealed bingu was giving them his Us Dollars to sell to indians?
    BMW X5 on my mind

  18. When Cashgate was uncovered, many said bad things about JB yet they were proved wrong with the Baker Tilly Report. Even with political machinations the current government is failing to implicate her. JB fought corruption and unearthed an evil that was derailing our development and she must be fully commended for that. We thank God that only time has judged her right and Malawians can now see where the real problem is especially when APM is shivering and delaying to get on with the K92 billion inquest. God knows, God sees and God is the best judge

  19. Timati mayiyu ndioipa .iye watinvera wa watichokera akupanga zake.vuto lathu a malawi si maiyu mtayeni tiyeni tipangezathu

  20. To most Malawians, JB was courageous enough to start destroying cashgate while other leaders before her tamed ( kuiweta) the vice. It now remains to the current government and its relevant bodies to sustain the fight. It is only through hard evidence and not specuration that ACB and other relevant bodies take action on those involved. Let JB enjoy her current role as an International icon while helping to put Malawi on the World map.

  22. How? Is this coming from the bottom of her heart or just from her lip? Only her & God knows!!!

  28. Lying Jebel hiding in Centerville Virginia with her criminal daughter and husband with a house bought with cash gate monies ferried via Mphyiwo to tou! You can fool some people some of the time but not all people all the time! You will all face Judgement you parasitic primates!!!

  37. Really, you were a leader and you waited for the EU ambassador to tell you the financial system was being abused? Amai, you could not smell the bad odour yet you were the leader.Only in Malawi.

  38. Mama U did what was surposed to be done for the good of all Malawians, ( thus exposing cashgate issue) mama, kunoko ma File aja asowa they want to aquit all so called Notoriuos Gangstans of Cashgate, ena adawamanga a ……, otopa kale sentence yawo mwinanso samaliza, akusiya dzamphanvu kunjaku dzikubetsa ma File poyele yela, a THINI chilungamo without this Mama we were all Blind and we could have not known CASHGATE! BRAVO MAMA! Muodeko chimanga kuno chaka chino tikutha, Olalikila onse palibe akupemphelera mvula dziko Pitala adalinyerera haevy Mulungu akuti akaona Malawi angowona Bibi yekhayekha ndi Matishue olembedwa Mbendela!!!! Pachikutilo chake.

  39. Only stupid people ( mongols or cretinists) and those who were part of the clueless ruling clique would listen to this woman. She and Peter Mutharika are a mockery to leadership in Malawi.

  40. ‘The EU ambassador told me’. No clue whilst you sat on that chair, donors had to tell you everything. I am so glad you lost.

  41. Koma boma lathu la DPP likuona dzuwa laombera m’mindamu? Zomadikira kuti anthu ayambe kufa ni zauve. Abakili zidawavuta 2002. Muvi oyang’anira umalowa m’maso. Yambani lero kuchitapo kanthu.

  42. UDF, DPP and PP are all thieves who bankrupted this country and retarded any meaningful development in malawi. JB, I think more than 30 % of govt resources were being stolen by the three corrupt parties and their cohorts otherwise the country would have been better. It is this corruption and thieving by the three parties that has dragged us to being the poorest in the world. Shame!!!

  44. Her excellency is saying nothing here. She is talking about the medicine, and not the cause. Has she forgotten that it was not a criminal offense to be found with stolen goods under her watch? These things SHOULD NOT have happened in the first place. For her to claim that she was arresting the people(after the fact) is a manifestatiuon of shallow mindedness.
    Where were she when ALL this things were happening? Can she now tell us where the jet money went?
    Akagwere…

  45. NGATI SUNABE ZIBWELATU. UNATHAWA CHANI?? LUTEPO ANAKUTCHULA KALE KUTI IWEYO NDIYE MBAVA YAYIKULU. UYENDA YENDA UTOPA UBWELA UZAYAKHA UPANDU UMENE UNAPANGA A MALAWI OSAWUKA POWABELA NDALAMA ZAWO.

  46. Akuthawa chiyani amai amenewa amagwetu,joyisi iwe dzibwera ndakusowa sadakumanga usaope ine ndilipo kwethemule bwezi lako ndidzakuleletsssa,

  49. This person , hereunder, is a very shallow minded human. Much as I agree that in African politics, honesty is not fully entertained. JB’s political ‘defeat’ was fueled through exposure of the truth about this so called cashgate. She was fully aware of the outcome on her political career.

  50. Thats JB i know. samabisa mau. bravo EU FOR tackling corruption issues with JB that man could not let you come close

  52. JB tried her best and Malawi was moving forward but now with the dpp thugs we are going backward.God bless mama JB

  54. Its totally true JB is the one who exposed cashgate, without her we could have been talking of K201 billion by now from K92 billion Bingu stole from us. Peter knows that, he wanted to arrest JB in revenge but anagenda katauluka so in anger he went to Lumbadzi to pant the cell.

  55. Bweraniko Amayi nthengo munalaka njoka muzalere anafe musamalankhulire kunja kwadziko lino njinga zakabanza zija zinatha muzatigulire zina ma

  56. Amayi, mafumu akukulirani. Ma initiative onse aja munayika mafumu kukhala ma Chairman aja anatha onse and some have been replaced by failed politicians koma ndiye tu …….zachisoni

  65. Malawians exposing their stupidity before a white a man. You think it was DPP who introduced IFMIS? It was the same EU and Britain who forced it on government. In fact they want to improve on it before they introduce it in their countries. Experimenting in Malawi

  67. Maybe Joisi Banda was instrumental in exposing the massive theft in Malawi government. Maybe not. The main point though is that her administration will forever be tied to the daylight theft, known as Cashgate. She and her party will never get that monkey off their backs.
    In politics, “optics” is everything. That is why, she and her party (PP) will not resurrect anytime soon from the meltdown they suffered in the last elections. She was piped by APM, a rookie. How embarrassing is that?

  68. Jb is telling the truth. The system was introduced by DPP government in 2005 with sole purpose of using it to steal money by Bingu and peter mutharika. Can peter justify how he got $8 million dollars a mere teacher?

  69. Ana a Malawi akulira pano chichokere inu Amayi Joice Banda. Anzanu ndi aja ankapenta kona ya ndende. Akuyetsetsa kuti akonze zinthu koma zikuvuta. Posachedwapa awaponyera ka $18million. Koma kuchemerera kwake ngati apatsidwa billion. Bwelani Mayi mudzatenge mpando wanu.

  70. Our former acting President Joyce Banda please stop your open lies to the outside world, so you are telling us that it had to take your friend former Malawi EU Ambassador Alexander Baum to tell you that your financial systems was been abused ….Where were you then in Malawi ruling???? an outsider tellling you about your office…without you noticing any thing tell us more Madam..Malawi knows better of what you did to us Malawians ….by the way why are not coming home as a former acting President i hear Malawi government has procedures on how former leaders are supposed to take leave and stay outside the country hope you know better as you were once in that high office…if this was the case then Madam Jb should pay back the salary we were giving her as an acting President lets demand it Malawians…Malawians are watching Madam

  71. shut the fuck up JB everyone knows how deeply involved you were in cashgate. if you are innocent why dont you come and stay in a country you were born. kamuzu ruled malawi and so is muluzi and they never went to exile. i believe bingu would have been staying in his house in thyolo if he were alive. how special are you? come home and return our tax money you were asking the lutepos to steal for you. foolish woman, an empty tin, coward!

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