“When good people do bad things, it is sad, but when they reach the point where one can predict that they will do nothing but bad things, a deeper kind of sadness sets in, almost at the level of resignation.” – Rick Tumlinson, space entrepreneur, and space activist.
Introduction
It never rains but it pours for the Tonse Alliance government with a back-to-back series of embarrassment, disappointments, corruption scandals, nepotism, and empty promises.
If it is not President Chakwera making politically suicidal blunders, then it is his Vice President, Saulos Chilima, hitting the headlines on corruption scandals.
As if the inept Tonse Alliance leadership is not enough, the organized crime of corruption has reached a worrisome level. Unfortunately, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is proving to be a conduit for accelerating corrupt practices.
In this article, we will endeavor to elucidate why President Chakwera, Vice President Saulos Chilima, and ACB Director General, Ms. Martha Chizuma, can save face by honorably resigning from their lucrative positions.
Why must President Chakwera resign?
Malawians are aware that President Chakwera promised them that if he does not perform to people’s expectations within two years of his regime, he would resign. Three years down the line, this social contract has been broken.
Not even one of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Hi 5 pillars has been fulfilled. Corruption is high. We are not prospering together. President Chakwera’s nepotistic tendencies have left Malawians further disunited and disgruntled. President Chakwera is not a servant leader contrary to what he promised. Sadly, there are no deliberate policies to address the inequality between the underprivileged and the elite.
Furthermore, President Chakwera has shown no political will to stamp out corruption in Malawi. For instance, his government has made no effort to enact laws that can facilitate the independence of ACB from political influence and interference, even after three years in power.
According to the Youth and Society (YAS), a human rights non-governmental organization in Malawi, President Chakwera is interfering with the ACB to shield MCP gurus such as Eisenhower Mkaka from being prosecuted. This is a total disappointment.
As if the aforementioned mind-boggling incidents are not enough, Chakwera’s government is riddled with financial scams in which government agencies enter into contracts with dubious foreign organizations. It is alleged that Malawi MCP operatives set up a scheme to loot K128 billion through a fraudulent fertilizer deal that Malawi signed with a ghost Romanian company. This dubious fertilizer deal comes months after the government paid K750 million to a United Kingdom-based butchery for the supply of fertilizer.
It was also a great embarrassment when President Chakwera discontinued Dr. Bakili Muluzi’s corruption case. There seems to be no political will to combat corruption at all.
President Chakwera’s action of pardoning a corruption convict, Mr. Uladi Mussa, was a big disappointment because such a pardon has the propensity to promote corruption in Malawi.
In addition, the recent pardon of another corruption convict, Mr. Mlenga Mvula, the former judiciary spokesperson who corruptly swindled about K10.7 million from the United Methodist Church between 2016 and 2017, is another thorn in the flesh as far as combating corruption is concerned.
In trying to defend his corruption allegation, Chilima committed a tu quoque fallacy by intimating that presidential immunity must be removed. This implies that President Chakwera is also involved in corruption. No wonder President Chakwera is pardoning corruption convicts left and right.
Why must Vice President Saulos Chilima resign?
Chilima must pave the way for thorough investigations as he was charged with corruption and bribery by the ACB. The position of the Vice President requires public trust, and it is difficult for the public to maintain such trust in someone who is answering corruption charges. There are also fears that Chilima may use his position to interfere with the course of justice.
The nepotistic recruitment of Chilima’s mother-in-law in the Malawian Embassy in Zambia is another disappointment.
The empty promises, such as the creation of one million jobs which Chilima personally campaigned for, are a blow to the face of many Malawians.
Why must Ms. Martha Chizuma, the Director General of the ACB, resign?
In the first place, it is an open secret now that the confirmation of Martha Chizuma as the Director General of ACB revealed deep-rooted corruption in Malawi, as it took the audacity of MCP gurus to convince the Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee to rescind its initial rejection of Chizuma’s confirmation. No wonder Martha Chizuma feels paranoid to prosecute the Secretary General of MCP, Mr. Eisenhower Mkaka, who allegedly received a car from Zunneth Sattar as a bribe.
Martha Chizuma has shown that she is not serious about combating crime, especially when she dropped corruption charges against Prince Kapondamgaga, the State House Chief of Staff, after he had already pleaded guilty by surrendering the bribe to the ACB.
Martha Chizuma has overstepped her mandate by dropping Kapondamgaga’s corruption charges. She assumes the court’s jurisdiction, which is ultra vires. It is only the competent court of law that must decide whether a corruption suspect is guilty or not.
Since Martha Chizuma assumed the position of Director General of ACB in May 2021, not even one corruption case has been logically concluded. Malawians are left flabbergasted as to why she chose to arrest suspects if she did not have tangible evidence.
Conclusion
In the event that President Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima concurrently resign, what would be the way forward? Section 85 of the Malawi Constitution empowers the Cabinet to elect, among themselves, an Acting President or Acting Vice President, to hold office for sixty days, after which presidential elections can be conducted.
If Martha Chizuma, President Chakwera, and Vice President Chilima resign at the same time, the Acting President will appoint a new ACB Director General who will later be confirmed by the National Assembly.
However, the million-dollar question still lingers: Can they really resign? This question can best be answered by Ms. Martha Chizuma, President Chakwera, and Vice President Chilima themselves.
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