..cases, operations come to a halt
..acting DG fails to inspire
There is a new virus in public service- Jet addiction- which seems not to have spared President Lazarus Chakwera and his entire administration, staff and visitors at the Anti-Corruption Bureau now have to carry their own toilet paper to the office, as money for essentials is being blown on air tickets and allowances.
At the time we are publishing this, ACB Deputy Director General Hilary Chilomba is out, along with four Directors and Chiefs, for 14 days to Vienna. He left only two Directors, as the other five were also galivanting elsewhere.
“Prosecutors can’t go to court, there is no fuel. Drivers are fuelling cars to pretend to work to avoid being fired. This is despite collecting K70 million every month from the Government. They are using the money to literally live in the sky,” said a source at the ACB.
The Investigator Magazine checked the flights for various ACB officials and found that they have spent a full month outside Malawi since the former Director General Martha Chizuma left the organisation.
The Deputy Director General has been to Vienna alongside the Director of Legal Services and Director of Corruption Prevention, and allowances for 14 days for the three amounted to close to K30 million for the first trip, The Investigator Magazine can estimate based on the ACB’s daily rate.
The other senior officials have been to Kenya—namely, the Director of Investigations and the Chief Legal Officer. Three others have been to the Gulf city of Dubai, including the Chief Accountant, Chief Public Investigations Officer, and Chief Corruption Prevention Officer. The estimated lowest amount paid for the trip was K10 million.
Suppliers have been withholding services, and for a long period, Toyota Malawi withheld a few vehicles from the ACB due to failure to settle fees.
“The only cars that move at ACB are the ones for bosses. Prosecutors and investigators must find means. Court cases are being adjourned, and witnesses can’t be brought. Actually, the fight against corruption is dead. We have now a travelling ACB sort of Travel with Mervis or Wodemaya,” charged an angry staff member.
Two witnesses to high-profile cases confirmed that the ACB has failed to provide transport to their hearings. Since Chizuma left, the cases have been delayed, and it was not expected that the bureau would be able to conclude any of the cases Chizuma left.
“We thought the Chizuma-Politicians spat was affecting funding, no. Funding has been coming, but the ones that are at the top have shown gluttony and selfishness. Imagine even cleaning services are not being paid. People’s allowances after they sponsor themselves are not being refunded. We are not waiting to be paid salaries,” said another staff member collaborating the story independently.
We visited ACB offices in Lilongwe and Blantyre, and the receptionists were apologetic about the lack of necessities, lying that the stores were bringing toilet paper soon. Most officers were absent, and we waited for a while before anyone turned up to apologise that the responsible officer had called in sick.
“People are in huge debt. They borrow fuel thinking they will be paid back when funding. The Deputy Director General has personalised the institution, he made sure someone who answered him in a meeting has his contract not renewed. He interfered and withdrew a warrant of arrest for someone at Immigration. Literally, he is taking orders from State House,” revealed another.
Despite a court schedule released earlier for August, most cases, including the NOCMA fuel case and many others, were adjourned, according to our findings.
