LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Friday stood to their ground demanding the resignation of Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe and Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwaon the controversial MK4 billion payout to legislators
The three CSOs including Youth and Society (YAS), Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR)accused Gondwe of “executive incompetence.”
They insisted that the transaction was fraudulent therefore the fiscal chief Gondwe must resign together with accomplice Nankhumwa.
Addressing the news conference after the dialogue the CSOs described the whole affair as an insult to Malawians.
According to the statement, read by Billy Mayaya, the CSOS described the phenomenon as a “state sponsored money laundering scheme.”
But Gondwe refused to resign arguing that the money, described as Quick Grant Project, is meant for rural development,
CSOs however feels that Gondwe’s conduct on the matter is not only beneath his resume, but a huge betrayal to citizens’ trust in him as the country’s purse keeper.
They thought they would get a “proper clarification” from the minister on the whole affair but were shocked that the two ministers—Gondwe and Nankhumwa—were equally clueless.
The MK4 billion issue—that initially saw 86 legislators mostly affiliated to the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its working partners getting about K40 million each—came to the fore during the Mid-Year Budget Review Meeting of Parliament in February after the Malawi News first exposed it.
The CSOs have said the onus is now on the two ministers to resign or President Peter Mutharika to fire them, threatening that they will compelled to take Nankhumwa and Gondwe to court and that if nothing is done they will take to the streets for mass protests.
Below is the full statement on the outcome of the meeting made available to The Maravi Post;
Civil Society Statement on Meeting with Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe on the MK 4 Billion Saga
As Human Rights Defenders working to protect the interests of the citizens of this country, we would like to make a statement on the meeting we had with the Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe. The purpose was to provide an opportunity to the Ministry to explain the background and context that led to allocating MK 4.5 billion.
The Minister attempted to explain how the money was allocated and the rationale for ‘the project’. What has come out clearly is the following:
a. The Parliamentary processes that were followed were mare acts of ‘laundering’ the dirty intentions.
b. It also came out clearly that the said amounts came after adjusting a few allocations in the budget including the allocations for governance institutions like the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
c. The minister acknowledged that funds for some critical ministries like Ministry of Health or education were not tampered with (neither reduced nor added). The logical thing to be done being adding to the funds of such critical ministries.
d. Further, the Minister admitted that there are no compliance systems so far set to safeguard how the funds would be protected. This was despite an admission that funds for local development have been so heavily abused in the present past.
e. The Minister also admitted that initially 86 members of parliament were earmarked to benefit from the funds and he said that the responsibility was on Honourable Nankhumwa to identify the beneficiaries and that ‘there is a possibility that his first consideration was to those that are close to him like members of his own political party’.
f. There are no clear budgets, proposals for projects of the members of Parliament or any set guidelines on how the funds will be used.
g. The Minister opted for the new funding model because in their view the local development fund, constituency development Fund were inefficient and being abused by authorities. There are existing legal systems like the CDF, LDF and DDF which the minister acknowledged that they have decided to bypass for an experimental methodology. Unfortunately, all the technocrats from the ministry including the minister himself agreed that there are no specific set compliance mechanisms that have been put in place except that they intend to pay contractors directly from the central Government. This reminded members present of the evil cash-gate scandal.
The following is the position of members of the civil society that attended the meeting:
a. The whole MK4 billion saga is state sponsored money laundering scheme. The Parliamentary process being used merely as a façade.
b. The position of members of the CSOs that attended the meeting remains unchanged: the minister should resign and the funds should not be disbursed.
c. Our initial ultimatum ends today and we officially announce that shortly we will start organizing demonstrations and/or shortly we may take up these issues before a court of law.
d. We are mindful and saddened by the state-sponsored propaganda to the effect that members of the CSO are not for. However, our resolve to push for accountability remains un-shaken.
