Chakwera talks tough on dubious contracts, wants K53bn Karim’s claim probed
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera, who is also leader of opposition in Parliament, has called on the people of this country to stop entertaining the thieving of public funds through corruption, saying the K53 billion claim from government by two companies owned by Abdul Karim Batawarara should be investigated.
Karim Batawarara’s African Commercial Agency and Reliance Trading Company are demanding the said amount for an agreement signed in March 2012.
The two suppliers signed a K9 billion contract with the Immigration Department to supply uniforms and other accessories but delivery only started five years later.
Speaking during a whistle-stop political tour in Lilongwe at the weekend, Chakwera said some unscrupulous suppliers are hell bent in stealing from the State in consort with public officers who want to reap from poor Malawians where they did not sow.
“This K53 billion claim and the award of the contracts under question needs to be investigated for possible corruption and fraud,” said Chakwera.
He said Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament should probe the legitimacy of a K53.9 billion claim that two firms want the Immigration Department to pay.
PAC has already summoned top government officials in Immigration, the Attorney General and Secretary to the Treasury as well as directors of the two companies to appear before the committee on February 1 2019.
The letter, dated January 18 2019, states that PAC is invoking its powers according to Section 9 of the National Assembly (Powers and Privilege Act) to summon the government officials and directors or secretaries of Africa Commercial Agency and Reliance Trading Company.
The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) also demanded the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Fiscal Police and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) to investigate the matter.
After signing the contract in 2012, nothing came through from the suppliers and the Immigration Department concluded that the companies’ silence on the order had invalidated the contract.
But on August 1 2017, the department got separate letters from the two companies both dated July 31 2017 with identical message that the goods the department had ordered would be in Malawi “within the next three weeks” and asked the authorities to facilitate duty free clearance from the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) for the consignments.
This shocked the department because as far as it was concerned the contracts were no longer valid in view of the five years that elapsed without receiving the goods.
The department then wrote the Attorney General (AG) on August 2 2017 seeking legal advice and the AG advised it to reject the goods based on the lapsed time, forcing the suppliers to resort to courts where government is now fighting the matter
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wina afune asafune MCP boma .Timbamva tanuto titimanga come may 2019. We are tired of useless people incharge. Kadzitchulanana .Tikumangani nonse .
We Malawians are suffering because of the Corrupt Politicians, The Politicians only Talk – What is the position of Cash Gate Case No Results till date and the Money has never been Recovered by Govt, and it is pocketed by Politicians, I case of Karim who has been winning Contracts with various Govt Dept, as there is No Checking by Any Govt Officials on what has been Supplied or Not? it some case the Contract has been Awarded but Nothing has been Delivered and Corrupt Officer have Pocketed the Entry Money in to there Account Aboard We Malawians up until… Read more »
the problem with malawians is that we always want to divite from the main issue someone is condeming corruption instead of joining hands is condeming this malpractice were busy backing it just because it is from mcp leader every malawian knows how corrupt the dpp govenment is so lets not support evel in the name of being a cadet .think of poor malawians who are dying in our hospitals because of this corruption thing.
These Traders should not fool Malawians.It should neither be a deliberate move to let courts used to authorize pay by our corrupt govt.
Ngati kuli athu amandinyasa ndi amwenye. They come from India ndi zikang’a. Akafika amangolowa mma office a boma ndi kumapanga katangale. Akalemela kuyamba kunya mwano. I wish pakanakhala president ngati Kamuzu just to shake them a bit by freezing their assets while investgigating the source of their worth.
Unfortunately, all Chakwera’s talks have no impact. At least SKC’s provoke government’s reaction. A case in point is the free secondary education, money for the elderly etc.
Chakwera, very small chance of winning.
My friend you have only one vote. You are not a spokesperson of the 6.6 miilion voters
Auauuze ndimafa oderera
Investigations will show a good chunk of that money was paid into some DPP account where there is only one signatory. You wonder why these Asians get lucrative government contracts. The answer is simple. “This contract is for Kxyz. Inflate by 20%. You know the rest”.
A Mwenye akutionjedza kwambiri, Anthu akuba ngati amenewa ine andikwana, once u bought goods from thier shops they don’t want to give u receipt. Unless you insist that u need receipt but then they threaten with increase in prices of the goods u bought already if u need receipt, is this serious?? Had it bn the population of mwenyes in Malawi were white people, Malawi could have been developed to certain level. Bcoz whites insist in paying Tax, Whites don’t like staying in CBD like mwenyes do living on top of their business. Whites rent houses in surbub there by… Read more »