ACB to have new Czar as Matemba contract expires

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is expected to have new director general as the current holder  Reyneck Matemba three-year contract at the graft busting body expired on December 1 2020 and wrote government that he would not be seeking a renewal.

President Lazarus Chakwera, who is the appointing authority for the bureau’s director general, according to Section 7 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act, is expected to appoint  Matemba’s replacement.

Minister of Information and government spokesperson Gospel Kazako confirmed that Matemba wrote the Office of President and Cabinet “stating that he won’t renew his contract.”

Matemba , a practising lawyer  who rose through the civil service ranks to be appointed deputy director general at ACB and then later on director,  said he is set to return to the civil service  after a “turbulent journey” as ACB that was nevertheless  worth travelling.

The ACB Czar said he was “truly humbled and honoured” to have served the people of Malawi as the bureau’s director during what he called  “one of the most challenging and turbulent periods of our times.”

The bureau has been criticised for the slow pace with which it handles various cases, but Parliamentary Public Appointments  Committee  chairperson Joyce Chitsulo said Matemba has generally done very well but faced hurdles like any director before him.

She said there is need to make the bureau fully independent from political interferences that continues to bedevil the body.