6 cabinet ministers to face Malawi parliament over ‘grand corruption’

Malawi Parliament has set up a parliamentary inquiry to probe six cabinet ministers named in the plunder of K236 billion public resources between 2008 and 2014.

Vice chairman of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Kamlepo Kalua said this in Lilongwe on Thursday when he received a petition from civil society organisations.

The civil society organisations marched from Area 18 to parliament building in Lilongwe to force the government open up to transparency and accountability and stop the culture of impunity.

Kalua told the protesters, led by veteran protest organiser, Billy Mayaya, that the special committee will meet next week to come out with modalities and procedures on how the hearings should go.

“Initially, they were seven cabinet ministers but the President has shown his will to fight corruption so one of them is not there,” said Kalua.

It was an indirect reference to George Chaponda whom President Peter Mutharika fired last week as Agriculture minister.

Kalua said each of the six rotten cabinet ministers would be called to answer the questions and Malawians will know them.

“This will be the chance for Malawians to know who these  rotten cabinet ministers are,” said Kalua.

President Mutharika initially said his government would not probe the seven ministers, describing it as witch hunting.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu  stunned the nation when he said the government has hired a foreign investigator to take up the matter.

Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwehas set aside K500 million for the auditing of the K236 billion cashgate.

The protests went peacefully.