RBM Governor must resign, right now: PAC recommends on Malawi cashgate
Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Charles Chuka, should resign to pave way for investigations into the cash gate scam, the Public Accounts Committee (Pac) of the Parliament has demanded.
Submitting a report to Parliament on Wednesday regarding the investigation into the financial mismanagement and misappropriation of funds in government, Pac’s committee chair person Beatrice Mwangonde who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Karonga North West noted that billions of kwacha in government resources have been stolen through dubious cheques cleared by the central bank.
“With immediate effect, RBM Governor should step aside from exercising his official duties in order to pave way for smooth and unhindered investigations in the role the Bank or the Governor personally played in the cash gate scam,” Mwangonde told parliament, attracting wild applause from members.
Sje said RBM Governor should step aside “in view of the fact that some Cheques associated with the scam were being authorized for encashment from the Government Account Number One.”
Mwangonde added that the money that was misappropriated would have helped the country to provide portable water to people in rural areas.
“All accounts staff in this office should be of high integrity, ethical and professional. This is due to revelations in the cash gate scam that shows serious carelessness by officials regarding public finance management as manifested in reports that senior officers shared IFMIS passwords with junior accoutants officers,” Mwangonde said.
Mwangonde added that all accounts personnel at the Accountant General’s Office be deployed elsewhere for smooth investigations.
She however, said the Pac has also observed with concern that the Special Task Force assigned by the Executive to investigate the cash gate scam is comprised of members of the Executive itself and would be initially reporting to the same Executive, which would compromise the integrity of the investigations.
She further added that in this regard Pac recommends that a Judge from the Judiciary would be better placed to chair the Tasks Force and that it should be reporting to parliament in addition to the Executive.
