{"id":13218,"date":"2022-01-08T22:49:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T22:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister"},"modified":"2022-01-08T23:10:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T23:10:10","slug":"chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister","title":{"rendered":"Chakwera defends corrupt charged Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is said to have backed Kezzie Msukwa, a cabinet minister who faces fraud and corruption charges. Chakwera\u2019s decision to retain the minister despite the charges has been interpreted as message by the president that he is backing the minister and cosying up to corruption.<\/p>\n

Msukwa is accused of receiving K23 million and a Mercedes Benz in bribes from a businessperson in order to facilitate land deals. He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on December 31 but was freed the next day following a controversial stay order granted at the High Court in Zomba on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

When former minister Newton Kambala was arrested for abuse of office last year, Chakwera did not hesitate to fire him. The president\u2019s delay to fire Msukwa is now being seen by some as evidence that Chakwera is protecting the under fire minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president\u2019s first public reaction to allegations of ethical impropriety against Msukwa was to defend him, implicitly so by claiming that he cannot act because he was on festive holiday, a privilege he doesn\u2019t extend to others. Clearly he appears to be \u201csparing\u201d some sacred cows. Minister Kezzie Msukwa of the multimillion kwacha and Mercedes benz corrupt \u201cland-procurement\u201d infamy is the latest sacred cow enjoying privileged presidential protection,\u201d wrote James Chisikwa in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

Following Msukwa\u2019s arrest, National Anti-Corruption Alliance said firing Msukwa would pave way for more effective investigations and warned that any delays would send a negative signal about Chakwera\u2019s commitment to fight the vice.<\/p>\n

Presidential Press Secretary Anthony Kasunda told the local media on 2 January that Chakwera was still on Christmas and New Year Holiday and would make a decision after returning to work on 4 January.<\/p>\n

But the president is still yet to take action despite returning to work. Malawians yesterday stormed the Malawi Government Facebook page to demand answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is he taking time to fire that corrupt minister Msukwa??\u201d asked Amos Mwase on a post announcing the appointment of a new Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

While Faith Nangumi said: \u201cWhy is it hard to fire a suspected corrupt cabinet minister Msukwa ? What sort of President does Malawi have ?\u201d Kodi ndiye kuti za Kezzie Msukwa kumangidwa tiyiwale?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Pilirani Gondwe (@piliruni) January 7, 2022<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is said to have backed Kezzie Msukwa, a cabinet minister who faces fraud and corruption charges. Chakwera\u2019s decision to retain the minister despite the charges has been interpreted as message by the president that he is backing the minister and cosying up to corruption. Msukwa is accused of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[233,371,300,2341,306,234],"class_list":["post-13218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-corruption","tag-kezzie-msukwa","tag-lazarus-chakwera","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nChakwera defends corrupt charged Minister - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is said to have backed Kezzie Msukwa, a cabinet minister who faces fraud and corruptio ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chakwera defends corrupt charged Minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is said to have backed Kezzie Msukwa, a cabinet minister who faces fraud and corruptio ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-08T22:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-08T23:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/img-61da19b823126.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Chakwera defends corrupt charged Minister\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-08T22:49:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-08T23:10:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\"},\"wordCount\":392,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2022\/01\/img-61da19b823126.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"corruption\",\"Kezzie Msukwa\",\"Lazarus Chakwera\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/chakwera-defends-corrupt-charged-minister\",\"name\":\"Chakwera defends corrupt charged Minister - 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