President Mutharika says he cannot order arrest of Chaponda: Blasts Chakwera, Kamlepo during MBC program

Malawi President Peter Mutharika on Thursday night spoke on the issue of former Agriculture minister George Chaponda and corruption for the first time since he fired his closest ally from cabinet.

In a program on state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, Mutharika commented on a wide range of issues from opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera to the media, in an hour interview.

Mutharika said his administration is doing all it can to stop corruption and Malawians should understand that he has limits to how he can do things in Malawi because of the law.

“Some people want me to order the arrest of. Hon Chaponda. I cannot do that. If I do that, the same people would be accusing me of excessive powers, they would be talking of trimming my powers,” he said.

He therefore said it was up to the Anti-Corruption Bureau to make its decision on how to prosecute Chaponda.

Mutharika also called Leader of Opposition in parliament as irresponsible.

He accused Chakwera of opposing things just for the sake of opposing, saying he is not constructive in his criticisms.

Mutharika then lined up a number of development programs which his administration has done since the Democratic Progressive Party  (DPP)came to power and other development programs on the cards.

The Malawi leader therefore said it was irresponsible for Chakwera to be painting the government bad always when there was a rosy part of it.

He also laughed of allegations that his late brother, the former president Bingu wa Mutharika looted public coffers and amassed wealth amounting to K92 billion which he stashed in foreign accounts.

“If the economy was affected by the K30 billion cashgate, what about K92 billion, the country would have collapsed,” he said.

He also said the issue of seven cabinet ministers involved in the K236 billion cashgate was just not true, saying this was created by Rumphi east MP Kamlepo Kalua and picked by a newspaper (Malawi News) without any verification.

“If this was true, the opposition would have named the cabinet ministers in parliament where they have immunity. No one could sue them on issues they say in parliament,” he said.

He therefore said it was not true that his government was gagging the opposition from speaking out on the corrupt cabinet ministers, saying if they existed, they would have been unveiled in parliament.

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