President Lazarus Chakwera says audit of K6.2 billion Covid-19 funds will take one month and those found to have looted the public funds will be dealt with.
The Malawi leader made the remarks yesterday at Kamuzu Palace during a national address on Coronavirus.
The K6.2 billion was spent by various clusters of Covid-19 between September and December. Reports show that some of the funds were stolen and over K2 billion was used for allowances.
According to Chakwera, the audit will involve two phases the first of which will focus on validation of reports from the Presidential Taskforce on Coronavirus and the second will investigate how every Kwacha was spent, by whom and whether the spending was lawful.
“Upon completion of the independent audit, any public officer associated with wrongdoing will be dealt with and face the law,” said Chakwera.
During the press briefing, Secretary to the President Zangazanga Chikhosi was asked to confirm if he followed Chakwera’s directive to interdict heads of clusters — over abuse of Covid-19 funds — in a manner that is compliant with the law. Chikhosi confirmed that the directive has been acted on.
Speaking during the briefing, newly appointed chairperson of the Coronavirus Taskforce Dr. Chalamira Nkhoma said the taskforce will ensure that there is accountability and maximization of available resources.
He said the taskforce will do this by improving coordination, planning and monitoring; system review of cluster operations and plans before clusters are funded; and regular tracking of financial and technical resources and reports related to expenditure of Covid-19 funds.
Malawi has recorded a total of 30,742 cases including 1,013 deaths and 16,840 recoveries. Currently, the country has 12,679 active. cases
Speaking after Nkhoma during the briefing, Chakwera expressed hope that Malawi will win the war against the pandemic.
