The Country’s state President His Excellency Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera Chakwera, has promised more audits after the completion of the 6.2 billion Kwacha audit report.
The President made the remarks on Sunday April 18th 2021 from Mtunthama State residence during his address to the nation on the investigative audit report on the usage and accountability of MK6.2 billion Covid-19 disbursement.
” If it were not for this audit we would all be left to believe the inaccurate reports submitted by those who have mastered the art of stealing public funds and covering tricks,”
“If it were not for this audit we would have no evidence of the crimes that have been committed or the identities of those who committed them which has the of punishing innocent civil servants together with the guilty ones,” Chakwera said.
He has therefore assured everyone that there is no place on earth where such criminals will hide as he urges everyone to responsible in fighting against such criminal enterprise until it is defeated.
The President said as a case in point the infrastructure projects that his administration is constructing across the country, including the roads and Bridges in the North that the Vice President has been tasked to inspect until a minister of public works is appointed such projects will be subject to audits to catch those who use such projects as a chance to steal.
“I have decided to use independent and investigative audits to ensure that our pursuit of thieves is backed by evidence that will stand up in court,” He said.
Chakwera said action has already been taken in regards to the evidence related to the MK6.2 billion with over a dozen individuals suspected of committing the crimes exposed by the audit report already arrested by the Malawi Police Service as it includes an arrest at the office of the President and Cabinet and more arrests are expected to other individuals that the evidence points to.
“I want all the thieves hiding in the civil service to mark my words; if the finger of evidence points to you as one of the thieves who stole Covid money for saving lives while hundreds of our people were dying of covid, you are going to prison,” He said.
He added that relevant laws will be used to ensure that was was stolen is payed back.
Chakwera also said he has instituted a team comprising representatives from the Department of Human Resource Management and Development, Mimistry of Finance, Ministry of Justice and his office to identify public officers implicated by the audit report.
“I have directed the secretary to the President and Cabinet, Mr Zanga-Zanga Chikhosi to interdict without pay those public officers on whose direct watch the Financial mismanagement occured.
As for the Minister of Labour who was named by the audit report as having spent Covid funds amounting to MK613,000 on his allowance for a foreign trip, Chakwera said he has dropped him from his cabinet even though the Minister has retained the money but his usage of the funds means that the money was unavailable for it’s intended purpose when it was needed most.
“I cannot have in my Cabinet any individual who either spend money budgeted for one thing on something else or do not ask tough questions to ensure that the money they are spending on something was budgeted for that purpose,” Chakwera said.
Among the seven key findings of the report:
- MK493 million worth of expenditure did not follow procurement procedures correctly.
- MK80 million worth of expenditure on allowance were irregular including allowances of a cabinet minister.
- MK83 million worth of cash was not properly accounted for including MK12 million that vanished without a trace.
MK39.7 million worth of fuel was not properly accounted for, including MK7.6 million of fuel that went missing.
- MK23.6 million was spent wastefully without being budgeted for.
MK1 billion that was allocated to some clusters to help in the fight against Covid-19 was left idle and unused. - Local Authorities were given funding without a basis or a budget.