Martha Chizuma
* I want to make this clear today: I stand by my decision to not fire Ms. Chizuma a year ago
* And I stand by my choice of her as my champion against corruption today
* I have never said that this means that no one else is allowed to bring a case against her for their own injuries, because that would be unconstitutional
By Duncan Mlanjira
President Lazarus Chakwera still considers Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General, Martha Chizuma as his champion against corruption — thus stands by his decision made a year ago by refusing to bow down to calls to fire from several quarters of the society.
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In his address to the nation on Wednesday, Chakwera took note that the Commission of Inquiry he has constituted to probe circumstances that led to her irregular arrest in December, also recommended that some action ought to be taken regarding offences Chizuma may have committed in last year’s leaked audio.
In that leaked audio, Chizuma is heard divulging some classified information on corruption investigations involving major suspect Zuneth Sattar but since he had already dealt with this as an administrative matter when she forgave her last year, Chakwera sought clarification from the Commission on how they found the leaked audio to be relevant to her attack on December 6.
“It was explained to me that because the complaint the Police acted on to arrest Ms. Chizuma was centred on the audio, and since the Courts have already ruled that anyone injured by that audio has a right to file a complaint to the police, then obstructing anyone injured by that audio from exercising their individual right to file a legal complaint and seek court relief not only leaves those injuries unaddressed, but also leaves Ms. Chizuma at risk of unjust attacks from those injured parties and leaves her credibility in the eyes of other agencies the ACB needs support from compromised.
“So I want to make this clear today: I stand by my decision to not fire Ms. Chizuma a year ago and I stand by my choice of her as my champion against corruption today, but I have never said that this means that no one else is allowed to bring a case against her for their own injuries, because that would be unconstitutional.
President Chakwera
“In this country, everyone has the constitutional right to bring a case against anyone, and when they do, the accused have the right to defend themselves in a court of law, where they are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“Even Ms. Chizuma herself has the constitutional right to file a police complaint against the person who recorded her against her wishes, if she so decides, in which case the law would take its course. That is our justice system. That is the rule of law.
“And as President, I swore an oath to defend and uphold the Constitutional rights of all Malawians, and so I would never obstruct any citizen from seeking court relief for injuries they suffered, even from something I myself have forgiven.
“But what I will obstruct is any person seeking to use the powers of their position in a public institution to assault another just to settle personal scores. That, I can’t allow.”
The President faulted police actions on Chizuma’s arrest, saying when he directed that the charges against her be dropped, the law enforcers ignored him — justifying that the presidential order was illegal and interference of police work.
He maintained that his directive for Chizuma release “was not an act of interference into the lawful functions of the Police, but an intervention to prevent the unlawful use of Police powers”.
“In view of this, I consider the failure to comply with that directive an act of insubordination,” said the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Chizuma captured at Namitete Police Station
He cites that Chapters 3 and 5 of the Commission’s report reveal a series of meetings attended by high ranking members of the Malawi Police Service in which the critical decisions to arrest Chizuma were made — which were from two meetings chaired by Deputy Inspector General for Administration, Happy Mkandawire and another chaired by Deputy Inspector General for Operations, Casper Chalera.
“Additionally, the Commission’s report states on page 32 that when the Deputy Inspector General for Administration, who was acting Inspector General at the time, was informed by the Minister of Justice of my directive to release Ms. Chizuma unconditionally, he regarded my directive as unlawful.
“I assume that he considered it unlawful because according to section 78 of the Constitution of Malawi, the President is Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi Defence Force, not the Malawi Police Service, and so it is true that the President has no power to order the arrest or release of anyone by the Police, which is independent.
“However, what the acting Inspector General should have remembered is that while the Malawi Police Service is independent, it is not autonomous. No one is.
“In fact, Section 88 of the Constitution says the President is ultimately responsible for the observance of the Constitution by all agencies of the State in the Executive branch, which includes the Police, the Anti- Corruption Bureau, the Malawi Electoral Commission, the Malawi Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, and many others.
“Additionally, Section 89 empowers me as President to “exercise all other powers reasonably necessary and incidental” to this responsibility.”
Chakwera has thus recommended to the Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service, Merlyne Yolamu, “to refer the conduct of her two deputies to the Malawi Police Service Commission, which has the legal mandate to determine the extent of their insubordination and the appropriate consequences to be meted out”.
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“I have also directed the Minister of Homeland Security to design a program for re-training officers at all levels of the Malawi Police Service and all other law-enforcement agencies in the procedures and protocols they are required to follow in the course of enforcing the law and exercising their powers of arrest.
“It is clear that within the police service and other law enforcement agencies, there is a culture of selective observance of law enforcement procedures and of subjecting suspects to humiliation, and we must fix that.”
In his conclusion, the President appealed to all Malawians to “begin to see the best in each other” adding that one major lesson to draw from the Commission’s report “is how much we are a nation at war with itself”.
“We view each other with suspicion and are quick to believe and spread the worst things we read or hear about each other, even when there is no shred of evidence to substantiate those claims.
“And when two Malawians holding public office have a conflict between them, instead of working with them to resolve it, we adopt the conflict as our own by taking a side, criminalizing the other side, and using public institutions as weapons to deal with them.
“As a result, we are destroying our national unity by replacing our culture of Umunthuwith a culture of Kuthana, which is getting us nowhere as a country.”
He thus emphasized his appeal for support on all the country’s “justice fighters”, saying: “Let us find ways to resolve our conflicts peacefully and lawfully without resorting to mob justice or social media witch hunts.
“That way, no conflict, no matter how heated, will stop us from working together to achieve the best for our country.
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