Janet Banda’s impartiality in investigating Chaponda under microscope

Advertisement

Janet Banda who is a member of the commission of inquiry investigating minister of agriculture George Chaponda has had her impartiality questioned after she attacked the courts for suspending the minister.

Janet Banda
Janet Banda: Under fire for attacking court

Soon after the Mzuzu High Court granted the injunction to suspend Chaponda, Banda who is also Solicitor General wrote on her Facebook account expressing anger over the ruling.

“A democracy of anarchy where some of the three branches of government don’t know exactly what their powers and functions are.

“Important to know where executive functions start and end! Where the judicial functions start and end! And where the legislative functions start and end! Democratic anarchy is rather frustrating to constitutional and administrative lawyers such as some of us,” she wrote.

But critics have questioned her neutrality saying it will be hard for Malawians to trust the outcome of the commission of inquiry.

“A person who was supposed to act with impartiality, neutrality and independence Janet Banda is nothing but an interested party and Malawians should not expect anything good from the commission,” said government critic Gerald Kampanikiza.

Commenting on the same, Dannie Phiri called for Banda’s resignation from the commission of inquiry saying she has shown that she is not unbiased.

“Isn’t the Solicitor General supposed to voluntarily fall on her sword considering that she can’t be a neutral member of the commission probing the scandal?,” asked Phiri in a Facebook post.

President Peter Mutharika set up the commission of inquiry to probe Admarc’s procurement of maize from Zambia. This followed accusations that Admarc bosses and Chaponda bought the maize through a Zambian company and not directly from the Zambian government in order to earn K10 billion from the deal.