Africa-Press – Malawi. Last Wednesday, during a press briefing in Lilongwe, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) said whatever is happening in Malawi is not the change that Malawians anticipated when they ousted the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) out of government on June 23, 2020.
The promises for a socio-economic turnaround, improved health service delivery, food security and rule of law which Malawians supported in the run-up to the election are slowly becoming a far-fetched dream.
By voting out the DPP Malawians hoped to be doing away with an era of corruption and fraud but it seems this far they might have been a bit mistaken. The fight against corruption is slowly losing its direction; the hunger to clear the rubble that President Lazarus Chakwera initially had seems to have disappeared into thin air overnight.
We now have new sacred cows in town. Criminal syndicates are getting deep. Some are still sitting in Cabinet with no iota of shame, even after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) opened cases of corruption against them.
I am talking of one Kezzie Msukwa who is benefitting from the lack of action by the principal and personally has no integrity to step down even when circumstances demand such of him.
This lack of action, if you ask me, stands to undermine the ACB and its firebrand director Martha Chizuma; further putting her in an awkward position.
The larger picture painted by the maintenance of Msukwa in Cabinet is that the administration is not serious about the fight against corruption. No two ways about it.
It would also appear that there lacks consistence in the manner which the leadership executes decisions and that there is some sort of discrimination or favouritism.
When news went wild that former minister of Labour Ken Kandodo was implicated in the embezzlement of Covid funds in his ministry, he immediately faced the axe from Cabinet.
The same measure of punishment was inflicted on Newton Kambala as soon as he had been arrested by ACB on allegations of corruption. But the sparing god of Msukwa should indeed be one supernatural being!
The Attorney General is wearing a cap of confusion, while some few misguided propagandists bay for Chizuma’s blood. Is it not surprising that the Attorney General announced an Amnesty on suspected looters when the Tonse Alliance promised an outright clamp on corruption when it ascended to power?
The police cannot pretend any longer; they have political masters to appease and protect, while pouncing on small fish over something as petty as a Facebook post.
The office of the ombudsman suffers a break-in; two days later police feign ignorance. A similar incident occurs at the house of the ACB director, no one seems to care; it is business as usual at Area 30.
Now you know that the police reforms are nothing but a sham just like all other reforms that died before they even took off. Folks, this may sound a little disappointing but it is time to accept defeat; the war against corruption will never taste victory.
Someone has without any doubt dropped the ball, or might as well be in deep slumber; matters that affect the lives of the people are not getting the much needed attention as they should. Chao!
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