Worry not about the leakage; worry about contents of Silungwe’s letter 

The letter Attorney General  Dr Chikosa Silungwe wrote to Vice-President Saulos Chilima, Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Zangazanga Chikhosi and all heads of public institutions may, as they love to call it, an internal one, not meant for the public.

In the letter, dated August 20 2020, Silungwe warned those he was writing to against poorly-drafted contracts, unlawful dismissals and reckless redeployment as such tendencies  have cost taxpayers K29 billion between 2018 and 2020.

However, just by revealing how much we, as taxpayers, have lost due to poor decision making by those entrusted with leadership, Silungwe’s letter ceases to be an internal one.

What Silungwe’s letter reveals is a depth of administrative rot deeply entrenched in the country’s public service sector.

He is telling us that, hey, we have enough money to efficiently run our hospitals, our schools, our social protection systems; but that money is wrongly used to cover up administrative errors of those entrusted to manage of our public service sector.

Such a letter, fellow Malawians, isn’t supposed to be internal; it must be a public document.

In fact, Silungwe must be faulted for making that important letter as an internal one. Had it not leaked, Malawians would have never known that administrative mishaps within our public are that costly.

Thank God that memo leaked and whoever leaked it must be decorated as a champion of transparency and accountability.

That is why you must be shocked to read, especially on social media, some zealots busy debating the politics around the leakage of the letter, not the important public details that the letter contains.

They are even accusing Silungwe of disloyalty, saying he has deliberately leaked the letter for reasons better known to silly politics they are so addicted and prisoned to.

If such ‘leakage zealots’ don’t know, the contents of the letter Silungwe contains important information for the public to know how they are being governed.

It is in the spirit of accessing such information, that is why, as a nation, we pushed for Access to Information law to ensure that the public has access to vital information needed in pursuit of holding our government responsible for every action they take.

For this, kudos to Silungwe; but next time, don’t make such letters internal—do a press statement.

For now Silungwe is the man of the moment in this government.

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