DPP’s Mchacha, two others out on bail

Lilongwe Senior Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa has granted bail to former Irrigation and Water Development Minister and DPP regional governor for the South Charles Mchacha and two others.

The three have pleaded not guilty to all the 6 charges.

The charges range from abuse of public office, theft and money laundering.

They have been ordered to produce a cash bond of 500 thousand Kwacha, one surety bonded at K1 million kwacha each among others.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Mchacha and two other public officers for alleged abuse of office during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.

The two public officers are former Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development Principal Secretary (PS) Henrie Njoloma—now PS in the Office of the President and Cabinet—and Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) acting chief executive officer Moses Mwenye.

ACB principal public relations officer Egrita Ndala said in a statement yesterday that on August 24 2020 the bureau received a complaint that LWB paid for Mchacha’s accommodation at the Protea Hotel by Marriott Blantyre Ryalls on his honeymoon.

She said the bureau’s investigations established that Mchacha, who is Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) regional governor for the South, allegedly directed Njoloma to facilitate accommodation and food at the hotel using public funds on the pretext of lobbying for adjustment of water tariffs.

Mchacha is also answering another case where he is accused of allegedly inducing public officers to perform their duties corruptly and using insulting words against Nation Publications Limited journalist Bobby Kabango in relation to procurement of public land belonging to Department of Forestry in Kanjedza Forest in Blantyre.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).