Malawians mount pressure on Mutharika to fire Chaponda

Some sections of society have taken up on social media to mount pressure on President Peter Muthrika to fire his Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development  George Chaponda followinng the release of the commission of inquiry on maizegate which has found him with a case to answer on corruption element.

The Mutharika appointed commission says in its report: “Finally, the commission finds the conduct of the minister Honourable George Chaponda, in his dealings with Transglobe, a locally registered company and transporter of maize, most inappropriate, suspicious and raising issues of corrupt practices.”

Some Malawians feel Chaponda should step aside as the graft busting body investigates him on this serious case.

Coincidentally, there were rumours of the president firing Chaponda but there was nothing on the state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.

On Facebook, Duffy Dublino wrote: “He (Mutharika) is a lazy president, he came back home to retire, he just wants peace and quiet.”

Jones Kaunda wrote: “All of them are thieves, they know each other well.”

Isaac Gingerson was sarcastic: “So someone set up a commission of inquiry to do an inquiry of a useless issue, holy Moses!”

Gingerson was referring to a statement by Mutharika on Friday in which he urged the media to stop publishing what he called negative stories about Malawi.

“For example, the issue of maize is useless, it is false. We have wasted a lot of time talking about it, yet there is nothing wrong which happened,” he said.

The commission, in its findings, said the procurement of maize both local and international by Admarc was flouted with discrepancies as in both cases, the government procedures were not followed.

“Relevant approvals were not sought from the board of directors of Admarc and ODPP. The ministry of Justice, as a legal advisor to government, was completely by passed. The commission considers these omissions as reckless and inexcusable,” says the report in part.

Receiving the report on Saturday, Mutharika promised to read it thoroughly and take action where necessary.