…Chakwera, Zamba purge old timers
…release of account first step
Be corrupt and free- that is the message President Lazarus Chakwera, Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba and acting Director General for the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Hillary Chilomba are sending to 82 beneficiaries of Zuneth Sattars K300 billion bribery, fraud and corruption scandal.
The Investigator Magazine can reveal that investigations into Sattar’s case were halted weeks after Martha Chizuma left the ACB in May this year and investigators and prosecutors familiar with the case have either been transferred or “benched” after Chilomba is said to have concluded “there is no evidence.”
Chilomba’s assessment is in contract with the United Kingdom National Crimes Agency (NCA) which investigated and sent a docket of Sattar’s charges to the Crown Prosecution Service and is widely expected to be charged early next year. Sattar has been unwell for the past year after he fell in his house cracking his skull, close family members and his lawyer in the UK told The Investigator Magazine early this year.
The decision is seen as high political interference that will see Supreme Court Judges, incumbent and former Cabinet Ministers, Civil Society and Media leaders who “ate and dine” with Sattar go scot free and government pay him all his dues as per contracts.
Saving MCP officials, Chakwera himself
There is overwhelming evidence that President Chakwera has been in touch with Sattar and his family as they battled with Chizuma and billions of kwachas were promised as part of campaign financing.
The deal to drop late Vice President Saulos Chilima’s charges was largely to avoid evidence directly linking the President to the case and the ruling by Justice Redson Kapindu left it open for Chilima’s lawyers to present the evidence if trial progressed.
“it’s a sad and sick joke to the nation that Chilomba, promised the top job at ACB can rule out the evidence gathered by one of the worlds top investigators. There was evidence, the court ruled that could -be called to court. His actions make him unqualified for the post,” a senior legal expert said.
Chilima was prosecuted to prevent him from challenging Chakwera in 2025 as all MCP officials implicated and even arrested have had their cases pending for the past two years, and will now be free as the ACB starts losing or dropping the case.
MCP loyalists such as Kezzie Msukwa, former Inspector General of Police George Kainja and other technocrats who were used as sacrificial lambs are likely to walk free and could be entitled to claim from the state compensation.
Judiciary officials named in Sattars report have been critical in delaying the court processes and will be expected to speed up rulings that acquit or dismantle the cases. Lawyer Alexious Kamangila list of alleged corrupt judicial officers includes some of those in Sattars report.
Dismantling the ACB after Chizuma
The ACB funding has been drastically cut and the little that comes is mainly used by Chilomba and Directors to globetrot that prosecutors, investigators and even drivers have been using their personal funds to keep the office moving.
Chilomba was instrumental in the re-deployment of a Mr. Khunga a lead prosecutor in the former vice president’s case and any other senior personnel that he suspects would not agree with his partisan decisions which are said to be communicated to the SPC Zamba.
“Those that raised objections or stopped fake procurements being engineered by Zamba, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale and Minister of Transport Jacob Hara, plus those that were in Sattars investigations team are now a target of the purge,” said our impeccable source who said morale at the graft busting body was now at its lowest.
Investigators, Directors moved- change it to Corruption Bureau
The ACB Director of Legal Affairs was moved but the transfers were not complete. Low-level investigators were either benched, or dressed down and others moved to small offices in Mchinji and Mzuzu while the big ones had to move.
The ACB is supposed to be an independent entity including recruitment of staff. Some investigators have served the ACB for over 15 years but under President Chakwera and SPC Zamba’s interference programme one key investigator has been moved to the Ministry of Transport.
SPC Zamba has even tried to be creative with their titles at the Ministry they are being sent. The offices and titles do not exist, that’s how the desperate corrupt administration is turning to creating new posts to remove all barriers to corruption.
Mary Kambalu, a long-time Principal Investigator at the ACB has been moved, illegally, to the Ministry of Transport, where she now goes with the title Principal of Ethical Standards a phoney title everyone at the Ministry of Transport- whose Minister is embroiled in a fuel procurement saga- this is a sad joke.
Another Mary, Mary Phombeya who has been with ACB since inception and rose to become Director of Corruption Prevention is now Director of Ethical Standards at another controversial Ministry of Homeland Security.
Phombeya’s replacement is Geoffrey Chikuta, who once was an investigator and was fired. He is said to be close to the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) gurus.
An embarrassing moment for USA, and UK governments
The decision to close and eventually throw away all the cases related to Sattar will be a big embarrassment to both the UK and USA Governments which had continued to support Chakwera even when he ordered the arrest of Chizuma and later Zamba fired her illegally.
The USA whose Millenium Challenge Company is premised on good governance defied logic when they praised Chakwera months after issuing a travel ban to former administration officials and kept six names of those close to Chakwera from the ban.
“What does the UK do now, they brought a case without evidence. It is embarrassing for the British government which have been seen as warming up to Chakwera’s excesses with rampant corruption affecting UK-based companies or individuals including the Transport Ministry’s GET Global and the fake Sheikh’ Al Qassimi fuel deal of Dr Marcin Lapa whose permanent abode is the UK. Now it looks like they cooked up a case against late Chilima,” charged an anti-corruption campaigner.
He said the ACB closing of the investigations was a middle finger to the USA both for the MCA and their travel bans.
“The USA will do what? Apologise to the individuals and withdraw the bans. How do they explain their compact praises which is tied to good governance? They need to come out in public and explain the rationale of the bans and MCA, otherwise the decisions at ACB or what you can now call Corruption Bureau would warrant a proper reaction,” he added.
Be corrupt and free
President Chakwera’s four years have seen the dropping of all corruption cases, fighting and dismantling the ACB and pardoning corruption convicts while he claims to be committed to fighting corruption.
The President has not acted against any corruption case including the recent K1.5 trillion fuel and fertiliser sagas that are happening in his own office.
“The President is sending the message of be corrupt and free under his reign. He acts like one, looks away like one and covers up corrupt officials, he is one of them,” said a religious figure in a comment to our promotional flyer adding, “If Chakwera was not corrupt, it would have been easy for him to act.”
Our analysis- Nobody can be surprised with Chakwera, Zamba’s union
The only time the President acts on anything if there are signs of public pressure. But even when he acts, he will say the right words and then forget about it. That’s his style of leadership, that’s his legacy.
But in local Malawian idioms, they say, “It is bad manners to speak while eating.”
President Chakwera surrounded himself with a gluttonous team. From his first year, every month there is one scandal after another. The ones with political rivals like Ken Kandodo get fired for US$600 while those that is evident share the loot with stay in cabinet or public offices.
Take the recent example of the SPC Zamba, Transport Minister Jacob Hara and Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale who are determined to give contracts to own shell companies and share public money. They were even caught lying to the whole nation with a fake statement purportedly from the sheikh which was called out by alert Malawians who saw a fake logo.
Any decent leader would issue a statement to distance his office and his reputation from such a messy and corrupt deal. But almost 60 days after the scandal broke out, we can bet President Chakwera has been popping champagne and devising ways to make sure Malawians forget.
But the price of his corrupt administration are now catching up with him. Add that to his classic ineptness and mediocre appointments- today Malawi is number 3 from the poorest nations on earth, not that we have been better, but poverty levels for the majority now stands at 79%, food is scarce, cost of living is skyrocketing and fuel is speaking louder- corrupt deals don’t work.
Dismantling the ACB, an effective one has been his core agenda. His accomplice Zamba has been caught more than five times forcing illegal procurements. We can all conclude; that he is the main beneficiary of all corrupt deals. That explains why he can’t act. How can President Chakwera speak or act when he is eating! It’s a taboo in Malawian culture.
