Don’t politicise JB arrest warrant

A political scientist in the country has said there is no politics involved in the issuing of an arrest warrant against former President Joyce Banda.

Last week, the Malawi Police Service issued an arrest warrant for Banda over allegations surrounding the corruption scandal known as cashgate.

Some quarters argued that the issue has been politicised saying the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) was supposed to issue the warrant and not the Malawi Police Service.

Speaking in an interview with Malawi24, one of the political scientists in the country Wonderful Mkhutche said the matter has been investigated by the Malawi Police and Banda has to come and answer for what she did during her presidency.

“The Police as a law enforcement and an investigative body has the authority to make conclusions depending on evidence they have gathered. They claim to have investigated the issue and have found that evidence was pointing to involvement of former president in cashgate. So there is no politics involved. Cashgate happened when former President Joyce Banda was overseeing government. She therefore has to provide information on what she knows about the issue,” said Mkhutche.

On suspicions over the police’s silence on the issue since announcing that they have the warrant, Mkhutche said the police are waiting for Interpol to act since the law enforcers do not have power on who appears on Interpol’s list.

Banda, who was president of Malawi from 2012 to 2014, left the country in 2014 a few months after she lost the presidential election.

The cashgate scandal was uncovered in 2013, while Banda was president of the country.

The scandal has so far led to the arrest of about 70 people, including government officials and businesspeople accused of stealing K2.4 billion from government coffers.