HRDC takes on Blantyre City Council over Beautify Malawi

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has written the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate how Blantyre city council entered into a contract with Beautify Malawi for the services of refuse collection trucks at a fee of K60,000 per day.

In a letter dated November 1, 2020, HRDC national chairperson Gift Trapence and national coordinator Luke Tembo says that Beautify Malawi (Beam), a charity founded by Mrs Gertrude Mutharika, former First Lady received refuse collection trucks donated by the government of the People’s Republic of China in May 2016.

“It is alleged that in 2017, Beam signed a year long contract with Blantyre city council in which Beam leased two refuse collection trucks to the city at K60,000. This amounts to K22 million per year. It is alleged that this contract was renewed in the subsequent years,” says the letter to the ACB in part.

The says the city council did not seek approval from the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA).

HRDC says the threshold for procurement of goods and services for the Blantyre city council is K10 million after which they must be tendered.

There was no immediate comment from Mrs Mutharika or any Beam officials and Blantyre city council but Malawians have taken up in various social media platforms calling for this probe.