Lilongwe, Malawi, March 13 (MaraviPost) _ The High Court in the capital, Lilongwe, Wednesday granted bail to former Malawi Defence Force Commander General Henry Odillo and his former deputy Lieutenant General Clement Kafuwa.
Presiding judge, Justice Esmie Chombo, ordered the former top military top bosses bail bonds of 2 million Malawi kwacha (about US $4,500) each, place a house in the upmarket suburb of Area 43 (for Odillo) and a lodge in Blantyre (for Kafuwa) on bond and surrender their passports to the state corruption-busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The two are also supposed to be appearing before the police once a fortnight during the course of the trial.
Earlier in the morning, Odillo and Kafuwa appeared before the Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Court where they were formally charged before being committed to the High Court. They deny the charges.
Odillo and Kafuwa were arrested on Monday in connection to investigations into a 1.9 billion Malawi kwacha (about US $4.4m) military supply deal. According to the charge sheet, which Senior Resident Magistrate Paul Chiotcha read in court, General Odillo and Lieutenant General Kafuwa authorised payment to Thuso Investments for the supply of military gear but the company never supplied despite being paid in full by the Malawi Army.
The two former top generals have been charged with abuse of public office, negligence by public officer in preserving government property and money laundering.
General Odillo came to prominence when he refused to take over government to prevent former Vice President Joyce Banda from taking over when President Bingu WA Mutharika suddenly died from cardiac arrest complications on April 5, 2012. Mutharika and Banda had fallen out then over succession plans. The President wanted his brother, current president Peter Mutharika, to take over but Banda resisted. So the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) expelled Banda from the party. She went on to form her own People’s Party.
So when Mutharika died top DPP leaders, including the younger Mutharika, thought they would be handing over power to the opposition. But since constitutionally Banda, as the incumbent Vice President, was supposed to take over they said they would rather just have the army take over but Odillo refused, saying he was not going to do anything unconstitutional. That paved way for Banda to become Africa’s second female president after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
When Banda lost to the younger Mutharika during the May 2014 general elections, the new president fired Odillo.
The arrest of the top former military officials is the latest in the on-going crack-down of civil servants who colluded with top politicians and businessmen to fleece government of millions of dollars in payment for goods and services not rendered to government. Over 70 civil servants, businessmen and politicians are already in court answering to various corruption-related charges over the scandal, dubbed ‘cashgate’.
At least five suspects have already been convicted.
‘Cashgate’ is Malawi’s major corruption scandal since the southern African country gained independence from British colonialist some 50 years ago. Western donor nations and agencies reacted by suspending over US $150m in budget support. At least 40 per cent of Malawi’s budget depends on donor aid.
‘Cashgate’ might have cost Banda last May elections. She was beaten into third place by the younger Mutharika, the Washington State University constitutional Law professor from whose brother, Bingu WA Mutharika, Banda took over.-MaraviPost
