Cdedi accuses Chakwera, Speaker of paralysing parliamentary committee meetings to dodge accountability on K6.2bn loot

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (Cdedi) has accused President Lazarus Chakwera and Speaker of the National Assembly, Catherine Gotani-Hara, of paralysing parliamentary committee meetings to dodge questions on the K6.2 billion Covid-19 response funds, which is feared to have been looted.

CdediI executive director Sylvester Namiwa claims that their independent investigations revealed that Gotani-Hara got  instructions from Chakwera to ensure that parliament is not functional during  this time, in an attempt to cover up the abuse of the Covid-19 funds.

“Cdedi  has noted with disappointment on the conduct by the State President Dr. Lazarus

Chakwera and the Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Catherine Gotani- Hara who seem to have conspired to paralyse the parliamentary committee  meetings on the pretext of the Covid-19 preventive measures. Our expectation was that the parliamentary committees such as those on Health,  Budget and Finance, Public Accounts Committee and the Welfare Committee,  were supposed to be meet to discuss the MK6.2 billion which has mysteriously  grown wings at the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA),” Namiwa says in a statement made available to Nyasa Times.

Namiwa alleges that Chakwera and Gotani-Hara  have prioritized the meetings for the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of  parliament, solely to discuss the firing of the two Commissioners for the Malawi  Electoral Commission (MEC) and the appointment of the Director General (DG)  for the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA).

He has challenged Gotani-Hara to consider taking advantage of  innovations in the world of technology to ensure that such committees, or better  still the whole national assembly resumes its meetings virtually.