Malawi Vice President, Saulos Chilima, has defended former head of state Joyce Banda on corruption allegations levelled against her following massive looting during her tenure.
Speaking in an interview with BBC’s Hardtalk, Chilima said Banda is not a convict and no charges have been levelled against her formally.
“To say that her corruption record was poor, that is not correct but to say that under her regime we uncover massive corruption then that’s correct, but the question is, did she do enough?,” said Chilima.
He further said that Malawi’s corruption has been going on under different presidents since the country adopted multiparty democracy.
Chilima then justified his meeting with Banda some months ago on agenda of sharing the same vision for Malawi.
“Meeting a former President is not an issue, having a vision as different people is not an issue as well,” he added.
Banda was mentioned by various cashgate convicts and suspects to have been a big fish in the cashgate scandal.
The corruption allegations later led the Malawi police to issue a warrant of arrest for the former president while she was in her self-imposed exile.
However, since Banda returned home months ago the police are yet to arrest the former Malawi leader.
