…appoint a commission of inquiry
…serious security lapse, as criminals can print passports
…confirms our story that the system was hacked
…claim to open lawsuits for Malawi Government, TechnoBrain
On Wednesday, on record, before Parliament, the sixth Republican President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, an ordained priest, decided to lie before the whole nation. A lie on record- in Parliament will remain for years to come, that he was, as he has always been- a lying President.
President Lazarus Chakwera is well known for lying. He can lie about a report release, just as he can lie with a straight face when he will change his cabinet or why he can’t implement any of his campaign promises. He can even lie that he won’t fly again until the next budget year. Taking or defending anything serious President Chakwera says is at owners’ risk, he can make one look foolish with his u-turns.
However, the latest lie is enormous. The President confirmed The Investigator Magazine story that the Immigration Passport system was hacked. It disputed the Immigration Department’s lies to Malawians on January 25 that the system had network challenges. The only question he is unwilling to answer is who hacked the system.
Chakwera knows precisely what happened but chooses to lie
As if he had not degraded enough the Office of the President with his mediocre and clueless leadership, the President decided to put it on record in parliament that the decorum and standards of the presidency are at their lowest level since independence.
It was so low, as President Chakwera was assured by Daudi Suleiman, his blue-eyed boy Director of Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), that the situation at Immigration would be sorted out within days. Meaning he knew that he was telling lies in Parliament.
Another of Chakwera’s boys, Anthony Bendulo, is being named- by Daudi’s associates, as he was the one who led the botched by-pass of the system after the licence from TechnoBrain expired. They claim Bendulo’s e-Government team chased Suleiman, telling him he had nothing to do.
Bendulo and Suleiman are bitter rivals after using third-party data to present as experts during the 2019 presidential election case. They got rewarded with plum public posts.
The President was aware of the situation at Immigration as Sulieman met the Techno Brain delegation from India to discuss the breach and demand at least US$5 million to restore the rights, Immigration sources claim.
“If the President were not told the truth, he would fire all those involved. But he is aware, and as usual, he will back his incompetent appointees. They have now told him in 3 weeks MACRA will pay a local company the money TechnoBrain wants, and the system will be restored,” said an e-Government official.
The only challenge for President Chakwera, as he has not learnt from his previous lies, is that Malawians are smarter and that his remarks in parliament, on record now, will open a Pandora’s box.
Chakwera has just said criminals can print Malawi passports, a lie that can cost his presidency
Social media erupted, but more importantly, his lies were too bare for anyone to miss; he called them hackers- without details and claimed they were demanding ransom, a rarity coming from a serious Head of State.
“If he was serious, he could have established an independent Commission of Inquiry headed by a High Court Judge, suspended everyone involved and mentioned the amounts his so-called hackers want. The challenge is that he has useless advisors who think, as always, can trick Malawians,” said a senior legal practitioner.
He said the President declared his whole administration insecure in keeping private data unsafe, and he would need to demonstrate that Malawian people can still trust his administration with their private information and that someone will account for such a lapse.
“In other words, there is a serious security lapse. This means Malawi passports can now be printed by hackers. The President will need to show Malawians evidence of the hacker’s demand, allow independent verification of all Malawi passports being safe and make an open inquiry. Otherwise, whoever told him to lie like that makes him look very stupid,” said our analyst.
The President is not known to be wise, and his advisers and core team have been making comical blunders every day.
Malawians can now sue Immigration and TechnoBrain.
Data breaches are serious, and with President Chakwera’s declaration, every Malawian passport holder and those who paid for passports can sue the government and the equipment supplier as private data has been lost.
“It means details such as date of birth, passport, and national identity numbers used in banks and other places are now in the hands of “hackers” according to President Chakwera. One needs only get the parliamentary recording and claim any identity theft loss or if they missed business, hospital and school trips from Government and Techno Brain.
“The government failed to protect private data and supply passports for those travelling. Techno Brain supplied a hackable system which now puts every Malawian passport holder at risk. If anyone told the President to make this declaration in parliament, he has trapped him in a long and embarrassing episode that won’t go away soon,” said another lawyer.
The Investigator Magazine has contacted TechnoBrain to hear its side of the story.
The government attempted to bypass the system- that’s the sad truth
President Lazarus Chakwera decided to tell lies over simple truths because his ICT boys were caught red-handed trying to bypass the system, and there was no external hacker. Immigration ICT personnel repeated hours after the president had lied to the nation.
TechnoBrain essentially locked the system down and is demanding undisclosed millions of dollars for the breach of their system. The fact is that President Chakwera does not want this to be known to Malawians and instead pretends there was a hack.
“The Techno Brain Team from India comprised of two people came and discussed with Immigration authorities. They will print the passports once they pay this ‘ransom’ money for foolishly trying to bypass the system. It was all childish play,” said our source.
