Analysts have condemned religious grouping, Public Affairs Committee (PAC), for proposing that the corruption case involving former President Bakili Muluzi should be dropped.
PAC, the quasi-religious body, said the case, which started over 10 years ago and is being prosecuted by the Anti-Coruption Bureau (ACB), is only wasting taxpayer’s money.
PAC spokesperson, Bishop Gilford Matonga, also argued that the corruption case requires political solution hence should be dropped.
However, social media commentator Onjezani Kkenani has argued that the case delayed mainly because of Muluzi was requiring medical assistance and that cannot be used as an excuse to drop the case.
“In any case, for Bakili Muluzi’s case to drag on, first he told us he had a problem with his back. This took years, but it mysteriously disappeared the day Bingu wa Mutharika died. Now you are using that delay as an excuse to kill the case.
“The only reason you are killing the case is because you know that the guy has no chance of clearing his name in a court of competent jurisdiction. So you have resorted to this “forgiveness” nonsense,” said Kenani.
On money, Kenani said the funds used for the Muluzi case were provided by Britain. He added the money Muluzi is accused of stealing could is K9 billion at the current exchange rate, which is a lot more money than the amount used for investigations so far.
He said: “The money he is accused of stealing is $12 million. I hear K1.7 billion being bandied about, but that was the exchange rate at the time the crime was committed. At today’s rate, that’s K9 billion that could have benefitted poor Malawians. So when you say his legal costs are going up, have they even reached half a million?”
Also writing on Facebook, lawyer Z Allan Ntata noted that investigations in the Muluzi case were done a long time ago and the case is currently not wasting money since it is now being handled by prosecutors who are paid every month.
He added that Muluzi case needs fearless prosecutors with the integrity to defy political interference which he described as a weak link in the case.
Said Ntata: “Let me just say that I was working for the ACB when we arrested Bakili Muluzi. I reviewed the file and in my opinion the case is solid and convincing. The only weak link in the case is and always has been politics.”
Muluzi was first arrested in 2006 on allegations that he diverted about $11 million in development funds from other countries to his personal accounts.
