Nsanje District Hospital, the beneficiary of the funds
* However, the K30 million COVID-19 funds were indeed misappropriated
* The funds were taken under garnishee order by the court
* They were used to pay compensation to people displaced by market construction
By Duncan Mlanjira
Nsanje District Council has refuted statement made by Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa on Thursday that alleged that Nsanje did not benefit from COVID-19 funds from government.
During a press briefing held at Parliament in Lilongwe, Nankhumwa made a statement on the alleged mismanage of COVID-19 funds, saying funds meant for Nsanje disappeared immediately after they were deposited in the District Council’s bank account.
But according to the consolidated financial reports for Ministry of Local Government, Nsanje Council indeed misappropriated their K30 million since the COVID-19 funds “were taken under garnishee order by the court to pay compensation to people displaced by market construction”.
Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa
In a press released signed by Council chairperson Andrew Piriminta, Member of Parliament for Nsanje South Ramuuzani Mahomed and Senior Chief Malemia does indicate that “the High Court had put restrictions (garnishee order) to all Nsanje District Council accounts, including the DDF (district development fund) account, into which the COVID-19 funds and other development funds were deposited”.
“Following this court order, full Council immediately met and came up with resolutions that helped settle the matter with subsequent lifting of the garnishee order.”
The statement further says that following submission of the Council’s financial reports on the same to national Local Government Finance Committee and eventually to the Presidential Committee on COVID-19, the Nsanje Council is not among the list of those that are said to have misappropriated the funds.
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“The Council would also like to notify the general public that it has received the third tranche of COVID-19 funds including Special Funds for procurement of face masks and the implementation of the planned activities is in progress,” says the statement.
“Nsanje District Council would like to appeal to the general public, including the media and political leaders, to always verify facts with it before publicizing issues concerning the Council,” said the statement.
At the press conference, Nankhumwa threatened to resign as member of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 if President Lazarus Chakwera does not order a forensic audit to establish whether or not the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) and some government clusters abused K6.2 billion, which was released by government to help in the fight against the pandemic.
President Chakwera
“This scandal is an unfortunate episode in the nation’s fight against COVID-19 because so much time is now being spent on trying to figure out what happened or who did what,” he said, adding that report of the findings be submitted to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament within 14 days for scrutiny and action.
“I believe that this would be the only and best path that the government can take to establish whether or not these public funds are being used for their intended purpose and deter future abuse of COVID-19 and other public funds.”
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He said culprits must be arrested and prosecuted and that there should be no sacred cows in arresting culprits and that no politics should be involved.
“If President Chakwera does not take heed of my proposition, it will be extremely difficult for me, personally, to continue serving in my current role as member of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19.
“If what I have suggested does not happen, I will have no choice but to resign as a member of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 in order to save my integrity as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament,” he said.
Situation report
Nankhumwa added that the issue of the K6.2 billion COVID-19 funds is financial in nature, and matters related to public finance are best handled by finance experts at a professional level.
“The President should, therefore, have ordered the National Audit Office to audit DoDMA within a prescribed time frame rather than delegating such constitutional powers to an entity that has neither financial jurisdiction nor the competence to audit public funds.
“As Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, I do not want to be associated with deliberate disregard of the law and the utter contempt of the basic working framework of government.
“This is a serious matter that must be investigated thoroughly by professionals so that we get to the root of what happened,” he said.
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