Another ‘cashgate’ at Information Ministry: Officer using Malawi govt equipment for personal gain

Millions of money that was supposedly to go into government coffers is going into the pocket of a senior official and his selected cohorts in a very systematic and coordinated manner in which the officer uses state Public Address System and personnel to milk the Ministry of Information of its much needed revenue, Nyasa Times has established.

Several sources within the Technical Section of the Information Ministry have revealed that the Acting Chief Audio Visual Officer Fletcher Ndawala has for several years been using government equipment mainly the PA system which he has been hiring out to private and government institutions.

The institutions hires the PA system when they have functions and instead of the revenue realised going to government Account Number One it goes into his personal pocket.

Investigations reveal that Ndawala has established a syndicate within the Technical Section which he uses for his ‘private business’. The sectioncomprise of government personnel and a Mr Kamudziaka who is a teacher at the reputed Bishop Mackenzie International School who acts as the owner of the equipment when in actual sense it belongs to government.

The Director of Information Gerald Viola admitted that he is aware of the issue because it was reported to his office by several staff members from the Regional Information Office (RIO) who felt shortchanged in the manner Ndawala was using government resources for his personal gain while ripping off the ministry which is grappling to run properly because of lack of enough funding from Treasury.

“I am aware of the issue that you are talking about because it was reported to me but I am yet to get to the bottom of it,” Viola told Nyasa Times in an interview.

“ Currently I am taking that issue very seriously but I haven’t yet contacted the officers involved to get their side of the story. At the moment I may say that I only got the information from our personnel who came to complain of the malpractice. I am told he hires out the equipment at exorbitant prices and remit very little to the ministry,” said Viola in an interview.

According to our source the Technical Section of the ministry is indexed as one of government departments which collects revenue for government whose proceeds is supposed to go to Account Number One, where all government revenue is kept which in turn is used for the services that government renders to its citizens.

“Over the years Technical Section has contributed considerable revenue to government amounting to millions which currently dwindled because of what this syndicate led by Ndawala is doing,” said the source.

Our source explained that the Technical Section has several kind of PA system which it hires out to the public namely Vehicle mounted equipment which is used for road shows, whistle stop tours, Indoor and Outdoor PA system which are used for indoor and outdoor functions.