Africa-Press – Malawi. Those that lived under the shed of Ngwazi Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s dictatorship won’t hide to you that he was an evil tyrant. However, when Malawians forced him out, through that historical 1994 vote, there emerged a strange narrative aimed at creating an angel in Kamuzu.
We started being told that Kamuzu was not a bad person—rather, it was people around him that were bad. How rubbish! Kamuzu was the tyrant of Malawi. He was responsible for everything Malawians suffered during his age.
He may, of course, not have been the one on the ground torturing and killing people; however, he created a conducive policy which his people exploited and took advantage of.
I brought the Kamuzu analogy because I have noted some striking similarities in the way Malawians are handling the issue of plunder of public resources under former president Peter Mutharika’s watch.
An apology appear to be emerging, one where some want to fool Malawians to believe that Mutharika was not involved in the plunder of public money during his reign. The classical case in point is the way the issue of cement is being handled.
What we know is that large chunks of cement were imported from Zambia using Mutharika’s free duty status. What we didn’t know is who made the order of such a purchase.
In connection to that, police made three arrests: bodyguard Norman Chisale, businessperson Chunara and Malawi Revenue Authority former deputy director Roza Mbilidzi.
These arrests, however, only helped the public to get to understand the rot that underpinned the cement deal. They did not, unfortunately, answer the question regarding who made the order.
We started to get closer to the answer when, Mutharika himself, came to the frontline with a a statement denying to have given anybody an order to purchase the statement. Now look here, fellow Malawians—we are not stupid.
When the cement story appeared in the newspaper, the President, through his spokesperson then Mgeme Kalilani, responded by saying he used his duty free status. Now that push has come to the shovel, Mutharika is saying he was not involved?
Listen, fellow Malawians. The issue of cement is just a tip on the iceberg of massive plunder of public resources—amounting to K1.3 trillion, under Mutharika’s watch.
It is a systematic plunder that, if you follow the pattern, it has every root from the Mutharika-led State House. This apologetic narrative of removing Mutharika out and crucifying his lieutenants only is not only gibberish but also self-deluding.
It is self-deluding because we want to create an impression as if Mutharika was not in control. Well, don’t be fooled; he was directly or indirectly. Just like Kamuzu, Mutharika may not be the one signing for fuel at Escom; but he created a corrupt policy environment which his lieutenants exploited and abused to their advantage. So in our #PayBackOurMoney debates, let us not remove Mutharika in the equation. He is the architect and he must be held to account before he dies.
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