PP acting president Uladi faces arrest over ‘citizenship scam’

Malawi Police are closing in on opposition Peoples Party (PP) acting president, Uladi Mussa to arrest him for allegations that he abused his powers when he was Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security by granting citizenship to immigrants from Rwanda and Burundi dubiously, Nyasa Times has established.

Mussa, has found himself on the wrong side of the law following investigations and revelations that he, using his multi-million racket, gave hundreds of Rwandese and Burundians citizenship status through dubious means in return for cash.

The outspoken Mussa is said to have abused his ministerial powers from November 2012 to sometime early 2014 by pocketing huge amounts of money in granting citizenship to foreigners who, according to immigration laws, were not qualified to be conferred the country’s
citizenship title.

Information and documents in Nyasa Times possession reveal that law enforcers are working on how to arrest Mussa without causing public uproar with enough evidence already gathered.

Mussa could not immediately comment on the impending arrest.

In one of the cases in the documents, Mussa is accused of granting citizenship to a Rwandese, Eric Banyana, who instead of applying for citizenship for only his wife, Kandenzi Alufongwa and children; Eric Havigineza and Angelique M. Eric, ended up adding six more people on
the application list which was submitted to Home Affairs office.

Worse still the ages of the extra names were outside the bracket required on any single application form. The other names and ages were Lucia Kamagaju (35), Davis Mbabazi (38), Agnes Gakuri (33), Juvinal Ndatinya (49), Francisco Habimana (25) and Phocas Nikwigize aged 45.

As an adult and family man Banyana, based on laws, only had legal jurisdiction to apply for his wife and children under the age of 18 at the material time. Everyone beyond that age was supposed to apply separately for their own citizenship.

Mussa is said to have abused his powers through his racket and granted citizenship status to all of them and pocketed undisclosed amount of money from the extra names.

The former minister told Malawi News, a national weekly newspaper, that as minister he had no
powers to single-handedly approve any citizenship application and that he only responded to a memo from Immigration Department.

Despite pushing the blame on Immigration Department, Uladi is currently the central point of a probe initiated by the department to uncover the racket that is seemingly bigger than it looks.

Sources at Immigration Department say the applications are dubious as they were not fully completed and had several anomalies when compared to other documents presented by the Rwandese during previous applications dated 2008.

The influx of Rwanda and Burundi nationals in the country’s major cities and trading centres has persistently worried locals who wonder why and how these foreigners acquire citizenship, land and business permits without following procedures.