DPP accuses Malawi President Banda of not telling the truth on cashgate
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has accused President Joyce Banda of telling lies to Malawians on cashgate to paint a good image for herself including that some donors did not withhold aid and that God is always on her side.
The DPP in a statement issued by its secretary general Dr Jean Kalirani has cited Banda’s recent announcement that the K8.7 billion grant from the European Union was donor aid when in fact the EU wants to strengthen the financial management system and fight the plunder of public resources.
“They don’t want more Cashgates. It was, therefore deceitful for the President to hide this crucial fact in her announcement of the MK8.7bn at Senior Chief Kalumbu’s headquarters on Friday 6 December 2013,”said Kalirani
“It is most unfortunate that the President is so obsessed with her ill-fated self-righteousness over Cashgate.
“In her EU and IMF announcements, she is trying to create the impression that donor confidence in her Government has been restored and aid has started flowing in again. This is just an illusion she wants to create and it is sad that she continues to take Malawians for granted as she continues her scheme to cover up and bury Cashgate,” the statement added.
Kalirani also warned the Malawi leader against “mentioning God in vain”, arguing doing so would bring calamities to the nation.
“As a God-fearing leader, we want to appeal to the President not to mention God’s name in vain as she often does in public. She cannot hide the truth from God. She will invite greater punishment and suffering if she continues to be a voluntary stranger to the truth in her political pronouncements to the nation and to the world,” the DPP said in its statement.
DPP said President Banda has “repeatedly told us that God is on her side. However, we know that the truth about Cashgate must be troubling her mind as she continues to try to suppress it. God shall not allow her to manipulate the Cashgate truths for long.”
The crisis, which came into the light after the shooting of then Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo on September 13 this year, has seen government losing $150 million (about K60 billion) in budget support from donors under the Common Approach to Budget Support (Cabs).
The DPP boasted that it has insiders that feed the party with information about President Banda and the government.
“The President should know that by now the public knows exactly what the truth on Cashgate is. She must be naïve to think that all her close associates and insiders are enemies to the Democratic Progressive Party and to the rest of the Opposition. She has been in Government as well as in Opposition long enough to know that there must be Government or Opposition insiders who know the truth on their side and will readily let it out of their chests to the other side so that they can set themselves free.
“She once boasted about getting information from DPP Government insiders when she was a marginalized Vice President. She should be assured that the donors, NGOs and certainly the DPP, in the same way know all the inside information on Cashgate and much more from PP insiders.”
The DPP statement comes after the United Democratic Front (UDF) has asked Banda to devise “a clear action plan” vetted by Malawians to address the cashgate with both politicians and technocrats.
UDF president Atupele Muluzi described action plans taken by Banda’s administration in dealing with the cashgate as mere cover-up since the President and her Cabinet have not taken responsibility of the crisis.
Minister of Information and Civic Education Brown Mpinganjira has trashed the opposition statements.
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