Stop demonizing PAC for rejecting Martha Chizuma—CDEDI
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has taken a swipe at some organizations and social commentators who have launched attacks on the members of the Parliamentary Public Affairs Committee (PAC) for rejecting the appointment of Ombudsman Martha Chizuma as the new Director General (DG) of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa argues that attacking and demonizing statutory committees and constitutional offices when some sectors of the society are not happy with the decisions they have made in relation to their mandate and laws governing them and the republican constitution is a breeding ground for dictatorship.
Namiwa adds that attacks and demonizing of PAC and its membership defeats the very same purpose for which it was established and the separation of power.
The CDEDI boss has made the sentiments in a statement issued in Blantyre today.
Namiwa wonders why Chizuma’s rejection has caused public when she is not the first one whose appointment PAC has rejected to confirm.
He cited the recent rejection of Atuweni Juwaweyi Abermodji as DG for the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA).
“CDEDI does not side and support any conduct or actions that pose a threat to the survival of our democracy and interfere with the rule of law. In the interest of transparency and accountability, CDEDI would like to inform the public that we already wrote Madam Chimuza on April 30th, 2021, congratulating her for coming out successful in the strenuous interviews and her subsequent approval by the President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera. In the letter, CDEDI did challenge Chizuma to desist from the tendency of applying the law very selectively, a route that she seemingly took by focusing on the ills of the immediate past ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and those associated with it,” reads part of the letter.
In its congratulatory message, CDEDI outlined a number of issues to the fearless Ombudsman, which were waiting for her on her desk as the new ACB Director.
They included the unanswered questions surrounding the plunder of the MK6.2 Billion Covid-19 funds; the now forgotten 6th July independence celebrations expenditure report, which Chakwera promised to make it available to Malawians within a month; the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) fuel supply scandal; the State House Crossroads Hotel accommodation scandal and the dubious awarding of contracts of unjustifiable huge amounts of money to very suspicious contractors by the current administration; among other issues.
Thus, Namiwa believes all the insults and backlash on PAC are uncalled for, unwarranted, unjustifiable, and very bad for democracy and should not be condoned at any cost.
“Let us respect the rule of law by acknowledging the separation of powers. Madam Chizuma is just a victim of deep trenched corruption in the country in both the previous and the Tonse Alliance Administration because looking at the composition of PAC, it is very clear that Tonse Alliance Government enjoys majority membership thereof. It means both the ruling and the opposition camps are not comfortable with Chizuma. We should, therefore, be afraid as country, because we have a crop of MPs in parliament who are paying lip service on the war against corruption, and that includes the current Tonse Alliance administration,” he alleges.
Namiwa further argues that as much as there is politics involved in the issue, PAC members did not break any law since they have used their conscious to rate Chizuma, stressing that this is the very same yardstick they used to measure all other appointees in the past.
“CDEDI would like to warn Malawians of good will to be vigilant all the time to stand up against all unpopular decisions that have the potential to drag the country back into dictatorship. We should also let all the statutory committees and constitutional offices to discharge their duties without undue pressure and unnecessary influence! Finally, as a nation, we should at all cost desist from emotional appeals when dealing with matters of national importance,” he concludes.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has given PAC seven days to redo the interview and confirm Chizuma’s appointment or face nationwide demonstrations.
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IT IS AN OPEN SECRET THAT DPP AND ITS BEDFELLOW UDF ARE VERY AFRAID OF MARTHA CHAZUMA BECAUSE OF THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CORRUPTION. THIS IS THE VERY REASON WHY THESE TWO PARTIES ARE AND WILL REMAIN IN OPPOSITION.
MCP’S AND PRESIDENT CHAKWERA POSITION ON MARTHA CHAZUMA IS VERY CLEAR SO DPP AND ITS SYMPATHISER CDEDI HAVE NOWHERE TO HIDE.
CDEDI thank you for enlightening us. Yours are very very genuine arguments. Awa agung’ung’u a Tonse Misalliance akufuna alowetse ndale mumaofesimu. They managed to capture the judiciary, now they also want to capture the ACB. The Malawi Chewa Party ( MCP) must be reminded that we are in a democratic era where institutions such as PAC must be left free to exercise their constitutional powers of voting over an issue and the outcome of the same be respected by all Malawians. Chakwera must not confuse our democracy by intimidating PAC. WELL DONE CDEDI you are the only CSO which is standing on moral grounds.
It is the system that rejected her. If at all you choose to blame anyone, then blame the system not PAC.
Namiwa is right I think chizuma She is been betrayed by the same ruling mps but she is biased as namiwa said in the article indipendence celebrate money crossroads hotel noccoma saga etc never investigated means she is after opposite way
alll Malawians who want to see their country propser will only know that we had a cartel for a public appointment committee. It is disgusting and PAC must be demonized clearly for that is what they are
I beg to differ with CDEDI. There is a disturbing pattern in the scoring and that pattern shows there was collusion towards an agenda. 9 members scored her 25 out of 25. it appears to me these were aware that there was an opposing force bent to fail Martha and they gave full marks just to counter the opposing force. Equally the opposing evil force knew that there was a positive force for Martha and the best they can do is all the 9 to score her ones so that she does not pass. I have issues with both camps but more for the ones who gave her 1 out of 25. If there was no collusion the lower grades could have differed, for example someone gives 5 another 7 another 4 another 11 etc., that should have appeared normal but as it stands all indications point to fraudlent rating. The committee has to be held accountable and holding it accountable is actually a plus on democracy as opposed to what CDEDI is saying. they have to explain the 1 out of 25 grades. They were doing that job on with mandate from the citizens and they must account to the citizens. we don’t pay them to frustrate us.
When we say CDEDI or Namiwa is a mouthpiece of dpp this is it. All along what Namiwa does is backing whatever is in favour of dpp. He is like the I-threes of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Was PAC supposed to conduct interviews. What were the scores for? This is utter nonsense.
Martha Chizuma is a good lady but she is compromised politically. She leans towards the whims of Chakwera. She is being rejected because of the fear that she will weaponise the ACB and deal ruthlessly with politicians. Its all about politics. Otherwise, of the current crop of DGs available, she is head over shoulders above the rest.
Tsopano za lowa mkalasi. This is a policy issue and fighting policy is fighting your self because policies were approved and accepted. Plalibepo nkhani apa. However, the assessment rubric should be evaluated. on the other hand Chizuma is only outspoken, not the smartest. Mbiri yake tikuidziwa.
All this circus boils down to the fact that there is untold duplication of effort in the process followed when appointing, determining and approving individuals in certain positions. These people go through an interview panel, from there a successful candidate/s name/s is/are sent to the president to choose or approve. Once all that is done, PAC’s duty is to confirm the nomination. Why should a head of state’s choice go through another process of confirmation, for what? That is where the contentious jinx crops-in. Such duplicity would have been avoided if the powers of appointing by a head of state were reduced or scraped off. It is so surprising that the Malawi Constitution is full of glaring shortfalls. The reason for that is because our Constitution is a copy of the British/American Constitutions. Now if you combine the two the end result is what is being experienced now. The Americans at first made the same error up to a point when they realised that in their context such a make-shift Constitution wouldn’t function because they were not in the realm of a Monarchy. Theirs was also tailor-made in the likes of the British. Ours now is more so confusing because it combines two recipes in one pot, which unfortunately muddles the whole concept. We will continue going backwards and forth till doomsday ie the MPs crossing of the floor issue etc. The Constitution is the problem.
This is really strange, she is not the first one to be rejected by the same committee .
The most interesting side is the composition of this committee which is highly dominated by Tonse members.
Are we really “walking the talk” or we are engaged in lip service acts?.
I can agree with the observation that Chizuma was betrayed by Tonse Alliance MPs, they voted and by vote the major which Tonse Alliance have should have carried the day…lip service..but wait and see.
This narrative that the opposition could not scupper the confirmation of Chizuma shows lack of understanding of basic Mathematics. There are at least 5 DPP members & 2 UDF members in the PAC. Let’s say all 7 gave Chizuma 1 mark out of 25; and the remaining 11 members gave Chizuma 22 marks out of 25 each, the total mark would be 249. Divide this by the 18 members you get 13.84; a failing mark. DPP and Namiwa should not hide behind “we are in the minority narrative”.
They knew that by giving her 1 mark out of 25, it would make it difficult for Chizuma to go through. If Chitsulo and her camp have nothing to hide, they should disclose how each member voted. In a democracy how representatives vote is not supposed to be a secret. We see this being done in the US Congress on CNN & BBC all the time…
Your simple mathematics wrong, very wrong. How do you know that DPP and Tonse Alliance voted the way you have put it here? Onsewa tsakumufuna Chizuma. Iwe ndi ine ndi amene tikumufuna kuti titetedze misonkho yathu
But all seven did not give one out of seven but only one because the giver walked in late. ( why she was allowed, makes me wonder), so your very basis is flawed. The known fact is that what has happened is not right but we don’t know who to blame but the committee.
Spot on Bro. Even if the 11 voted 25/25, with the 7 voting 1/25, the average for the 18 members would still be less than 16 when pass rate is 17. I would also investigate why the 3 members failed to attend.
The 3 members who were absent need to be investigated and we also need to investigate how many collected allowance. My gut tells me the 3 are part of the the bad apples 🍎
These dpp thieves are afraid that Chizuma will smoke them out into the open. As for Namiwa he deliberately forgets that there are files that contain names connected with K577bn plunder during Bingu. So Namiwa stop hiding on shallow waters because we can see your back.
Did you ask for the same accountability on scores, majority, minority composition when the others were equally rejected? What’s so special with Martha Chizuma? Do we have to force PAC to confirm fellow Tonse Alliance sympathysers?
1/25 is an impossible score check score rating
And that’s where the whole thing becomes suspicious. Is 1/25 an honest qualification score for someone with LLM? Besides, one member of the Committee came at the 11th hour and proceeded to award the 1/25 marks. Really! The whole thing stinks of vendetta.