DPP ducks CSOs over Blue Night donations ‘refund’

Five civil society organisations (CSOs) pushing the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to refund money from some State enterprises have expressed concern with the antics of DPP as it cancel its scheduled dialogue meeting on Friday at the eleventh hour.

Wa Jeffrey: Party says she was taken ill but ironically she says she was in a meeting fit and well
Kajoloweka of YAS: DPP must pay back the public institutions the money

DPP informed the CSOs, through their lawyer Wesley Mwafulirwa, that the party secretary general  Greselder Jefffrey wa Jeffrey was taken ill hence the cancellation.

The five CSOs pushing for the refund are Youth and Society (YAS), Centre for the Development of People (Cedep), Church and Society Programme, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC).

YAS  executive director Charles Kajoloweka said  the organisations were expected to get a list from DPP of all public  institutions that made the illegal donations to the party and a date when they will pay back to the money.

“There has been little commitment from the party. We expected them to respect the dialogue process because they are the ones who asked for it,” said Kajoloweka.

Wa Jeffrey refused to comment on the cancellation and expressed surprise that she was taken ill, saying she was attending to another meeting and is fit and well.

The DPP initiated the dialogue against a background of previous arrogant stances by its senior officials, including Jeffrey who described as “zachamba [nonsense]” calls from CSOs and governance watchdogs, including Malawi Law Society (MLS), for DPP to refund an estimated K13.5 million collectively donated by public institutions during its fundraising dinner and dance at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on July 29 2017.

Last week DPPs apologised over remarks which Wa Jeffrey  and Vice President Hetherwick Ntata made to rubbish  calls by CSOs condemning donations by State enterprises in a fund-raising drive branded ‘Blue Night’ and demanded a refund to the agencies.

On July 29 2017, DPP held a fundraising dinner and dance at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where Blantyre City Council (BCC), Mzuzu City Council (MCC) and Lilongwe Water Board (LWB), among others, made financial contributions totaling K13.5 million.

Under Section 178 of the Constitution and Section 23 of the Public Finance Management Act, no single kwacha of public money is supposed to be expended unless such expenditure is authorised by an Appropriation Act or is a statutory expenditure.

Newspaper columnist and fearless  political commentator  George Kasakula has given DPP’s committement to a dialogue or paying back the cash a pinch of a salt.

In his “Hitting the Nail” column published in Malawi News, Kasakura wrote: “The DPP is toning down because it has realised dismissing the five civil society organisations with the wave of its hand, so that we all forget and move on to wait for another round of abuse and bad governance, is not working.”

He continued: “But when did DPP dialogue with anybody for the good of the nation? Does the party even know the colour and spelling of dialogue?Does DPP think Malawians have forgotten how it treated Public Affairs Committee (Pac) when it demanded dialogue with government on resolutions of its first all-inclusive conference that included an end to corruption, nepotism and selective justice?”

Kasakura argues that the five CSOs will be “foolhardy” to believe a word that DPP is saying on dialogue.

“The DPP simply wants to move on and will not pay back a single dime of the money they bullied city councils and state companies into giving them.Which is why, for the impunity to stop, the High Court must come to the rescue of the long suffering Malawians by coming up with a ruling that calls a spade by its rightful name of a spade and not a big spoon.

“Malawians have suffered enough at the hands of struggling state companies that cannot even repair a broken water pipe and have now resorted to pumping toilet stuff into people’s homes and disguise it as water,” he wrote.

The columnist pointed out that the DPP only listens to protests, strikes and court cases.

Other commentators says there is no need to have a series of meetings when the issue can be resolved by DPP refunding the public money.

They sayd CSOs will be compromised to lock up themselves in a meeting with DPP.

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Gogodasi
6 years ago

We said it that once you accept the so called dialogue, you will regret having compromised your stance. The best you should have done as CSOs was to reject the request for dialogue outright and keep pushing for the refund of funds. We are watching and soon we shall hear that Kajoloweka has been offered a diplomatic post. It is only Dye Mawindo in the history of Malawi who tuned down mpando wonona as Malawi High Commissioner to Tanzania in 1994.

ade
ade
6 years ago

Once upon a time there was Bamusi, Mwakasungula and now there is Kajoloweka. Today he is taking the governemnt to task, I know the governemnt is planning to offer him a BLUE MILK SCONE so that he can stop being a pain in the butt. Is he going to resist? Let us wait and see.

dinky
dinky
6 years ago

policy of appeasement ikuononga chuma cha boma

Mahera
Mahera
6 years ago

Ayamba kale kunjenjemera… akutha ngati makani

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