Former Malawi’s State House chief of Staff Mukhitho arrested

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Police have Tuesday arrested former Malawi’s State House chief of staff Peter Mukhito, a former inspector general of police, in connection with the cement importation saga.

According to documents at the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Mukhitho is signatory to the correspondence between State Residences and MRA indicating that Mutharika asked the tax collecting body to facilitate clearance of the cement worth K5 billion duty-free.

National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera has already confirmed of the arrest but has denied to divulge more information for fear of jeopardizing investigation process.

Deputy Commissioner General of Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Roza Mbilizi, Indian businessperson Shafee Ahmed Chunara and former president Peter Mutharika’s bodyguard Norman Chisale were also arrested in connection with the same.

Last month, it was revealed that former President Peter Mutharika imported bags of cement worth K5 billion without paying duty between 2018 and 2019.

While Mutharika, as president at the time, was allowed by the law to import items for personal use without paying duty, the amount of bags of cement raised concerns leading to the probe.

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).