Simbi bankrolling of DPP, MCP raise eyebrows: Dulani says ‘not illegal at all’

Chancellor College political scientist Boniface Dulani has said  what South Africa-based Malawian businessperson Ashanti Simbi Phiri is doing to be financially supporting both the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is not illegal.

Billionaire Simbi Phiri: I am financially supporting DPP and MCP

Simbi, who runs a construction and engineering firm Khato Holdings Limited, confirmed  to Malawi media that he currently has been funding the DPP and MCP.

“MCP knew me first and they came to me and I knew DPP later and I would do that for anybody for that matter because this is the spirit that I have introduced in this life,” said Simbi to a group of Malawian journalists who are in Johannesburg, South Africa, on tour of some of Khato’s projects.

He said despite having  a South African citizenship , Malawi is his home and “I love it that way.”

The bankrolling of DPP and MCP has raised question in some quarters as they interpret it as a move of getting favours from those in power and then have no checks and balances from the main opposition.

Simbi’s Khato Civils came into the limelight in October last year when it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government to carry out three major projects to provide water to Lilongwe City from Salima, construction of toll gates and an international bus terminal in Lilongwe.

The three projects are valued at $1 billion (about K750 billion).

But Dulani has argued that what Simbi is doing is “not illegal” at all.

“He is allowed under the current arrangement because we do not have a Political Parties Act that would oblige them to declare their sources of funding. The absence of such an Act raises questions on whether political parties are not being compromised. The case of Simbi is [just] one [of such cases]. At least he has come in the open to declare that he supported the DPP and MCP but there are a lot of individuals and companies that are equally funding political parties without declaring [it],” Dulani observed in comments made in the press.

DPP spokesperson Francis Kasaila has however said  Simbi is not channelling his financial support through the ruling party coffers.

While MCP Deputy Secretary Eisenhowe Mkaka acknowledged that Simbi has offered some support to the but  indicataed that “his help had no conditions attached to it.”

In the recent past the businessperson has also made several donations worth millions of kwacha to his home district of Mchinji.

 

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Gang'a Weniweni
Gang'a Weniweni
6 years ago

wish all the best

be humane
be humane
6 years ago

Zilibwino chifukwa is also supporting MCP? anakhala kuti is supporting DPP only pakanakhala nkhani mbwee apa

Kanthu Ako!!
Kanthu Ako!!
6 years ago

This is a University lecturer saying because it is not illegal, there is nothing wrong? Malawians complain every time someone does something that is not illegal but does not look right. If this is the mentality of University lecturers what more the common person? Has Dulani, not heard of ETHICS? An action might not be illegal, but it might be unethical, and that is worse than illegality, because ethical behaviour defines a person. Someone involved or doing unethical acts is more likely to do illegal things, it is not a very big leap between unethical funding of a party and… Read more »

Dingiwsayo N
Dingiwsayo N
6 years ago
Reply to  Kanthu Ako!!

You are right boss

waputa mabvu
6 years ago

simbi you r asisting these fools istead of malawians

Gadaga
Gadaga
6 years ago

Dulani, it becomes illegal when Simbi gets to participate in tendered constructions and other business for the Malawi government. How can competition or selection to award tender be fair when one is giving money to the government that provides those tenders? In other countries, this is enough reason to impeach a president/government. Not in Malawi of course!

Likongwe Ligomeka
Likongwe Ligomeka
6 years ago

Uku ndikumene timati kukonza kapansi kuti kali mwamba katsike mosabvuta. This was definitely a calculated move by this so called Simbi guy.
One can describe this as a form of corruption because the guy was aiming at achieving something.
Some of us do not see this as a spirit of giving but rather a spirit of corruption in a special degree.

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