…behaving like a dictator, not fit in a democracy
Malawians on Tuesday were outraged by the findings and recommendations by President Lazarus Chakwera’s staged Commission of Inquiry, which asks Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Martha Chizuma to be investigated and charged of criminal offences.
President Chakwera himself lived to his billing of hiding public reports when he practised what a senior legal mind called “state censorship” only fit in a dictatorship.
The President did not allow his Commission of Inquiry present it’s report but ordered the controversial Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba to redact seven chapters of the inquiry report and only release findings and recommendations.
“Releasing part of the report smacks state censorship. He should have been sensitive to the image he is creating about himself. The MCP has a history of dictatorship which included massive censorship,” said a Blantyre based lawyer.
The Investigator insists the President is hiding his complicity in the arrest of Chizuma which was the main focus of the inquiry and the key questions the public expected were;
1. Who ordered the arrest?
2. Who knew prior to the arrest?
Instead, the Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Justice of Appeal Edward Twea says their Terms of Reference were to find whether the Police received a criminal complaint against the Head of the ACB and whether that complaint was valid and whether upon receipt of such complaint the Police acted in accordance with the law?
Twea and company, could be forgiven for a comedy company than a serious national endeavour if they focused their inquiry on the question which Malawians did not ask. The question the public had, echoed by all sectors was after President Chakwera said he was not aware of the arrest was; WHO ORDERED THE ARREST AND WHO KNEW OF THE ARREST?
The President, swearing in the Commission on 10th December 2022 repeated the same question.
Mysteriously Twea and his disgraced contingent comprising Former Ombudsman Enoch Chibwana, Father Patrick Thawale, evangelist and former Police Chief Lot Dzonzi, Maureen Kachingwe, Former President of the Malawi Law Society John Gift Mwakhwawa, Innocencia Chilombo, Kassom Mdala Amuli, Reverend Elsie Tembo, Senior Chief Tengani, Lingalireni Mihowa and Frank Kalowafumbi Khofi came up with more strange findings.
They found Chizuma isolated and compromised the fight against corruption, the found Kayuni entitled to complain. They did find that there was no investigation report and the arrest was based on “imported” facts but they say nothing is illegal.
The confused or paid up Inquiry which has disgraced itself found Police used excessive force before contradicting itself that Chizuma was not mishandled.
Chakwera already pardoned Chizuma in January over the audio but it wont be surprising to see him use the staged report to get rid of her.
“Malawi feels like a strange place, everything happening feels abnormal, ” a former Cabinet Minister said.
Activist Stanely Onjezani Kenani called Twea and company “the most useless Commission of Inqury in the history of Malawi” while vocal Influencer Joshua Chisa Mbele promised Chakwera “massive demonstrations until you resign.”
The report has just doused petrol on fire and now exposes the Presidents hypocrisy in the fight against corruption.
The Investigator is not carrying any direct quotes from report, a copy can be found in our press release section.
