BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Typical of Malawi politics, two cabinet ministers Patricia Kaliati and Kondwani Nankhumwa have engaged each other in a serious fight as they are trying their best to be close to the president at the expense of the other.
According to a telephone conversation between Minister of Civic Education and Community Development, Patricia Kaliati, and a DPP party operative loyal to her, which has gone viral on social media, Nankhumwa has been uncomfortable with Kaliati’s power hungry in the cabinet.
However, in an interview with ZBS on Tuesday, Kaliati down played the bad-blood between her and Local Government Minister, Kondwani Nankhumwa. Both ministers come from Mulanje and are close to the seat of power.
“Our relationship is just good. And when I say relationship, I am not just referring to cabinet relationship only but home land relationship. We come from the same area and we have never been in squabbles,” said Kaliati.
Nankhumwa expressed ignorance about the recording, saying he was yet to listen to it and laughed off the allegations, saying his relationship with Kaliati remains normal.
“No comment for now because I have not yet listened to the clip. But as far as I know, everything is normal between myself and Honourable Kaliati.”
The conversation also accuses Director General of Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra), Godfrey Itaye, of not being loyal to Kaliati. Itaye refused to comment on the allegations, saying the recording is not worth commenting on.
Sources privy to the bickering told Daily Times that Kaliati has been uncomfortable with Nankhumwa’s perceived closeness to President Peter Mutharika.
The source also confirmed that Kaliati has been fighting Itaye during her time as Information Minister.
But the 15-minute phone conversation warns Kaliati that she risked being fired as Information Minister and Government Spokesperson allegedly because several ministers were uncomfortable with her interference in their portfolios and that she spoke on behalf of the ministries without consulting concerned ministers.
“Madam, there is serious infighting in government, not just among juniors but even at cabinet level….. And that is why the President is being exposed.
“Even the issue of K577 billion, they are targeting you. They want to pull you down, this is from government reliable sources. If you want to survive, don’t be all over the place, visiting other ministries” said Kaliati’s sympathiser as quoted in the local paper.
But the sympathiser also warns Kaliati to stop insulting Vice Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Kamlepo Kalua, who pressures Mutharika to fire seven cabinet ministers allegedly implicated in the K577 billion theft of public funds.
“You should also stop commenting on the issue of Kamlepo Kalua. Let the President speak or you can end up contradicting the President. But I have to promise you that we are on your side and we will continue to fight, we can’t let you down,” pledged the sympathiser.
Two days after Kaliati and DPP Regional Governor for the South, Charles Mchacha, lambasted Kalua at a presidential rally in Thyolo, Mutharika conceded in Ntcheu that corruption levels have reached 40 percent.
The President also said the rot has not spared his own Cabinet.
The whistle-blower also warns Kaliati to stop being all over, including her visits to the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) as his cabinet colleagues view her busy schedule as aimed at making allowances.
But Kaliati told her sympathiser that she visited MRA to plead on behalf of state-controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation.
The sympathiser also bemoans that propaganda plans that a sinister meeting of DPP and some directors from the Ministry of Information held at a lodge in Mulanje were not being implemented as planned.
According to the local paper, among other issues, the meeting agreed to silence government critics through violence and mud-slinging.