It never rains but it pours for Reverend Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government in as far as incidences of corruption are concerned.
A day does not pass without hearing about Chakwera’s appointees being implicated in corrupt deals. One wonders if it is the problem of the appointees or the one who appoints them.
We all know that Ms. Helen Buluma, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA), decided to resign after immense pressure from the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Ms. Colleen Zamba, the Principal Secretary responsible for Energy, Mr. Alfonso Chikuni, and others who colluded to bring new fuel suppliers through dubious means and in some cases expensive financers.
It appears that Ms Zamba later retaliated by firing Ms. Buluma, a move that sounded very unprofessional. We don’t care which came first, resignation or the firing.
What we are certain is that the NOCMA board acted unprofessional, inappropriate and unprocedural by defying the decision of the office of the ombudsman which directed that Ms Buluma be immediately relieved of her duties.
One wonders why the whole Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet did not seek legal opinion from the Attorney General before showing her open defiance to the office of ombudsman.
Recently, more information is coming out after Buluma appeared before the Parliamentary committee to explain her side of the story.
Contrary to the Attorney General’s view, Parliament has the mandate to interrogate any public officer suspected of being involved in corrupt deals.
For your information, the post of the Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil Company of Malawi is a public office not a private one. Acting on behalf of the government, Parliament can interrogate any public officer to unearth any corrupt dealings.
Did you know that the government has control even over the Private sector by forcing appropriate policies?
Now that Ms Buluma has spilled the beans, Buluma wabudula mphika wa nyama, we can reasonably conclude that Ms. Zamba and her accomplices were reluctant to fire Ms. Buluma as a cover up to perpetrate their dubious and diabolical activities.
For sure, this is the tip of an iceberg. As you are reading this, a network of government officials in various ministries, departments and agencies is conspiring to defraud government coffers further.
Have you wondered why some government officials have become millionaires all of a sudden? Others are constructing lodges in Salima, Blantyre, and Lilongwe.
Unfortunately, our sleeping and biased Director of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Ms. Martha Chizuma, cannot invoke a clause in Corrupt Practices Act which empowers her to interrogate any individual suspected of amassing wealth dubiously.
Nonetheless, we implore Ms. Helen Buluma to work with ACB as a state witness to unearth the dirt that is being conspired in NOCMA. Let everyone be a whistleblower now.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor
