Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) former secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey now faces court action after she failed to reimburse K107 million demanded by her party.
The DPP gave her up to Tuesday this week to reimburse the money which the party says was meant for payment of party election monitors during the 2020 presidential election for some districts in the central region but she allegedly embezzled, without paying the monitors.
DPP’s director of Legal Affairs Charles Mhango said the party would drag Jeffrey to court if she did not pay back the money.
In the letter, Mhango said Jeffrey received the money which was meant for party monitors in Nkhotakota, Ntcheu, Dedza and Salima districts during the June 23 2020 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election.
Jeffrey: Witch hunted
Reads the letter in part: “I have been informed that you were entrusted with the responsibility of paying the monitors but after you collected the said sum of K107 700 000 from the party, you never paid the monitors and instead you converted the said sum to your personal use.”
Mhango further claims that efforts by the party to recover the funds have been futile, saying Jeffrey has been abusing her position as secretary general to evade accountability for the funds.
He demands that Jeffrey pays back the money to the party in the next three days from December 10 2023, failing which the DPP will commence legal action to retrieve the funds.
But some political commentators view the demand as mere political witch-hunt.
George Chaima faulted the timing of the demand, saying it is a witch-hunt as the party has taken over three years before demanding transparency and accountability for the funds.
He said: “Transparency and accountability is not something that can be denied but the timing is wrong. Why has it taken the DPP three years to ask for the refund?”
Victor Chipofya, on the other hand, said the DPP should have asked Jeffrey to give a detailed report on how the funds were used after the 2020 election.
“The party was also supposed to declare its source of financing before coming with accusations about misappropriation,” he said.
Chipofya cautioned the party’s financing methods, saying the DPP is a public entity and must be the first to be accountable to its members.
Mhango’s communication showed a handwritten note as evidence that the money was given to Jeffrey.
Jeffrey alongside Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa and others have been at loggerheads with Mutharika after Jeffrey stated in August 2020 that Mutharika needed to leave and pave the way for new blood. She was expelled from the party alongside four others, before a court ruling reinstated them in 2022.
