Minister Dausi paid ex-Malawi Young Pioneer benefits

Minister of Information and Technology Nicholas Dausi is among the list of people who have been paid compensation for atrocities to the people of Malawi when they served under the notorious Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP), a paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) during the one party state.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development released status of terminal benefits for the ex-MYP employees in local papers Wednesday and among notable names is that of Dausi.

MYP was known for various atrocities to the Malawi nation during the reign of MCP and Dausi was among the people committing these atrocities.

Dausi who was disengaged in 1994 served as a senior MCP member soon after his disengagement before joining the ruling DPP under the late President Bingu Mutharika.

According to the list of the names of certified ex-MYP members, Dausi was paid his terminal benefits through his National Bank of Malawi (NBM) account number 0133017122801.

Nyasa Times could not verify how much Dausi got as terminal benefits but sources said he is one of the people who got ‘huge’ terminal benefits.

According to the list, Dausi was born on 10th March 1956 and was first engaged by the notorious MYP when he was 20 years old on 10th December 1976.

A political analyst who refused to be named said it was embarrassing for the minister to accept the benefits considering the atrocities that were committed by MYP.

“The Minister was part of this group which caused untold misery to Malawians during one party rule and here we are paying them for killing our fellow Malawians. The Minister should be embarrassed to receive this kind of money. He should have at least given it to charity or relatives of the people MYP killed,” he said.

In the statement, the Ministry of Finance said out of 530 ex-MYP members with proper documentation and verified by government, 423 have been paid their terminal benefits since 1994 when they were disengaged.

“However, there are some ex-MYP members who claim to have not received their terminal benefits at that time (1994). These lodged a complaint to the Government for payment of their benefits in 2011. Terminal benefits were, therefore, paid to some ex-MYP members in 2012 and 2014,” reads the statement in part.