At the centre of it all, Zuneth Sattar
* I am just as frustrated as you are to hear that the British suspect recently visited Malawi
* And none of the agencies actively investigating him here noticed
* Thus missing a golden opportunity to make progress on the matter
* The ACB needs more of our support and I have allocated the ACB more funding than ever before
By Duncan Mlanjira
President Lazarus Chakwera has said he shares Malawians’ “frustration at the slow pace of investigations” involving the corruption case that sorrounds British national Zunneth Sattar and implicates senior officials in his administration — including Vice-President, Saulos Chilima.
Chilima implicated in the UK investigations
Other implicated in the scandal are the President’s Chief of Staff, the Solicitor General, the Inspector General of Malawi Police Service, chairperson of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority and a Malawi Police Service lawyer.
In his national address on Tuesday night, Chakwera said he was aggrieved that over a week since the allegations on Chilima and the other high ranking officials, “no action has been taken to investigate corruption allegations on this matter on one hand” and that there are “efforts by some groups to put roadblocks in those investigations on the other”.
He said he was much aware of allegations which have been published both in UK and Malawi which have now circulated widely across social media and other platforms.
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He addressed Sattar as a “British man”, who is being investigated by British authorities, saying he “was here in Malawi two months ago; then he was arrested and questioned in the UK on his return there; then he was released on bail without being charged.
“Then he applied to court for the conditions of his bail to be amended; and then was denied the amendments he applied for because the National Crimes Agency argued against the application on the basis of the seriousness of the allegations against him, including the allegation that he had corrupted senior officials in my Government, including my Vice-President.
“Admittedly, these are serious allegations, and I know you are anxious and filled with suspicion, and I understand the anguish and anger you all feel from hearing these allegations.
“I feel the same distress you do from hearing allegations of corruption in the highest offices in the land, and I am just as frustrated as you are to hear that the British suspect recently visited Malawi and none of the agencies actively investigating him here noticed, thus missing a golden opportunity to make progress on the matter.”
The President emphasized that “it is not enough for [him] to feel angry” adding that the people elected him to make decisions that make the country better.
Chakwera as he was being sworn in in June, 2020
“And I took an oath of office that when making any decision, including in matters of justice, I would do so ‘according to law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will’. That means my decisions as President must uphold certain principles of justice, regardless of my feelings and frustrations.
“It is these principles of justice that make us a civilized society, and so we cannot sacrifice them in the name of anger and anguish. One of those principles is that every citizen has a constitutional right to defend themselves against an accuser, and at this point, none of these individuals have been charged by any court where they can answer for themselves.
“Another principle is that everyone’s side of the story must be heard, and at this point, none of these individuals have even been invited for interviews or questioning by investigators to hear their side of the story, and now a whole week has passed since the allegations against them were reported, yet our investigators have not even seen the need or urgency to interview them.
“A third principle of justice is that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty of a charge tendered in a credible court of law, and at this point, no court in Malawi has charged these individuals of any crime.”
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As required by law to uphold these principles, Chakwera said he has always waited for the “respected investigators or courts to bring charges against someone before taking executive action concerning their position”.
“Of course, I do respect the credibility of courts in other countries like the United Kingdom and I respect the credibility of media reports here at home, but I cannot compromise our sovereignty by basing my presidential decisions on anything other than the Constitution.
“The Constitution binds me to base all my decisions on the law as applied by the law enforcement agencies in Malawi and adjudicated by the courts in Malawi.”
He also said he was equally frustrated that the cases of corruption from the past that he promised will be dealt with when in office “seem to have been left unattended by those responsible for disposing of them, allowing those who committed those acts to be walking freely in our society in a state of indefinite impunity”.
“To me, all these things mean one thing: that the Anti-Corruption Bureau needs more of our support. So far, I have allocated the ACB more funding than ever before.
Martha Chizuma
“I have regularly promoted and enforced a policy of non-interference among my Ministers; and when I appointed the Director General [Martha Chizuma] I directed my own office to bear the cost of a more secure home than what was provided for in her contract.
“But I am ready to do more to support her. So since by Law the Director General of ACB is supposed to submit to the President and the Minister of Justice a report on the general conduct of the affairs of the Bureau — and considering that this matter is of high national interest — I would expect that a specific report on this issue be made available within 21 days to allow my office and the country to be appraised, as Malawians have every right to know the extent of the whole thing and the actions that will be taken on it.
“And as I have said to all of you before, so I assure you again now — no one who gets formally charged from that process will be shielded by me.
“More broadly, today I am also announcing a new nation-wide campaign for driving corruption out of Government agencies, which will be launched this July at a National Anti-Corruption Conference that I will host.
Chakwera
“A nationwide campaign against corruption is necessary because going by the recent findings that many of you feel that corruption is getting worse, our campaign to fight it also needs to be intensified.
“For that to happen, the campaign must involve all stakeholders, including the civil service, civil society organizations, the media, the private sector, the faith community, traditional leaders, and international partners. Most importantly, it needs the involvement of citizens.
“As such, the National Anti-Corruption Conference will bring together representatives of all the government entities in which corruption happens, as well as other stakeholders across Malawi, to identify the loopholes and gaps that still exist in Government and are used for corruption.
“The conference will also be a platform for having an honest national dialogue about the ways we as a society create an enabling environment for corruption, and devise ways of changing it together.”
The President further announced that toward the effort against corruption, on his trip abroad, he has secured support to strengthen the country’s governance framework and financial management systems.
“Going forward, my pledge to all of you is simple: no matter what challenges we face or what changes they demand, I will always act in your best interest as your servant and act in accordance with the law to the best of my ability, so help me God.”
