Of Mphwiyo shooting saga and Malawi corruption syndicate

It must be emphasized that the shooting of Mr. Paul Mphwiyo, Malawi’s Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance, was an act of callousness and evil.

This wickedness represents the kind of character that must not be accepted, tolerated and encouraged.

It is a matter that must cause great concern in all well-meaning Malawians, and inspire them to join hands and a collaborated effort to condemn and rot this evil out of our society.

A sad and distressing evil of this nature must never be used for political point scoring. Instead, it must unite all of us and galvanize our resolve to replace evilness with goodness.editorial

It must be borne in our minds that acts of evil do not know faces of targets. Today it may be Mphwiyo; we never know whom it may be tomorrow should we leave the fight against the vice to a single sector of our society or entertain it because it serves our political purposes or partisan expediencies.

No single effort must be spared to get to the bottom of Mr. Mphwiyo’s shooting: from what exactly happened, everyone who was behind it and what caused it to how such macabre acts can be prevented in future.

Which gives justification to the call that every patriotic Malawian must feel duty bound to provide all information there is to ensure that all leads are established that must show the route towards a just and fair conclusion of this matter.

What is critical is that the conclusion that will be reached after everything is said and done should be the kind that will put in place a solid and enduring deterrent for the future.

While we are at it, there is no denying that inherent in this whole episode are undertones bordering on misuse of public positions and resources.

It is disappointing that stories of abuse of public positions and plunder of resources meant for the poor as are old as the age of the Malawi nation.

For thirty years the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) administration presided over a period when systems for thuggery and impunity were put in place and entrenched.

That administration left office with a record of miserable failure to dismantle the pilferage of public possessions and belongings through syndicates of organized crime.

The United Democratic Front (UDF) government under Bakili  Muluzi  inherited this rotten chalice. The sense and spirit of selfishness, egocentricity, self-absorption and greed made that administration to normalize it having seen in it the assurance of over-night personal aggrandizement.

The Field York scandal right at the beginning of that administration speaks of the organized crime groundwork that was already in place when UDF came into power, and also points to the helplessness that greed inculcates in people to resist and fight evil.

The subsequent scandal in the Ministry of Education with respect to construction contracts marked the entrenchment of endemic corruption in the Muluzi administration.

Today the High Court in Malawi is still grappling with allegations of K1.7 billion which the former President Muluzi is alleged  to have fleeced from the public pursue.

President Bingu wa Mutharika came with the promise of zero-tolerance to corruption. But when he died in April 2012, doubters of that promise felt vindicated because the opulence in which those that had enjoyed the trappings of power in that administration lived had all the undercurrents of smoke and mirrors.

The mystery that surrounds the accumulation of obscene wealth by the President Mutharika provides the basis for arguing that corruption in Malawi did not start during the Joyce Banda administration.

So, while as President, President Joyce Banda has a duty to ensure that corruption is fought – a fight she has demonstrated her commitment to – it is sordid falsehood by anybody who creates an impression that all corruption in Malawi is her fault.

For all those that know corruption, it is facilitated by syndicates that are never built in a day.

To win this fight, President Banda does not need her will, she needs the support of everyone because like any human being she cannot be everywhere, but there is always someone somewhere when crime is taking place.

Loving Malawi is not by attacking President Banda to fight corruption; it is by reporting corruption to authorities instead of being complicit in it.

Let’s demonstrate that we love our country by bringing all the information that will help bring the Mphwiyo saga to a conclusion that will help this country.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :

Sharing is caring!

Follow us in Twitter
42 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Read previous post:
Eagles make it six out of six over Nomads

Blue Eagles FC on Saturday, September 28, 2013 made it six points out of six over Mighty Wanderers after edging...

Close