Malawi electoral body commissioner Mathanga, three others freed on bail

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)–The Blantyre Magistrate Court has granted bail to former board chairperson of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and current commissioner of Malawi Electoral Commission, Jean Mathanga, former Escom CEO John Kandulu and two others.

Among bail conditions, Mathanga has has been ordered to pay a K2 million cash bond, K4 million non-cash bond each for two sureties, surrender all her travelling documents and report to ACB offices in Lilongwe on Wednesday once every fortnight.

Kandulu, Khono and Kandapo have each been ordered to pay K1.5 million cash bond, K4 million non-cash bond each for two sureties and report to ACB every Wednesday.

Earlier, the court charged Mathanga with two counts of neglect of official duties and giving false information to ACB.

Kandulu has been charged with performing public functions corruptly and neglect of official duties.

While the other two, Escom’s  former director of procurement Fanuel Nkhono and senior procurement officer Emilias Kandapo have been charged with abuse of public office.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Mathanga together with the other three former ESCOM employees on allegations of abuse of office.

“On 22^nd July, 2020, the ACB arrested Mr. Fanuel Nkhono, former Director of Procurement and Mr. Emilias Kandapo, Senior Procurement Officer at ESCOM.

“On 23^rd July, 2020, the ACB arrested Mr. John Kandulu, former Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Jean Chifundo Mathanga, former Board Chairperson at ESCOM,” said Egrita Ndala, ACB Principal Public Relations Officer.

According to Ndala, the Bureau received a complaint on 21^st September, 2016 alleging that ESCOM made procurements worth K4 billion without following proper procedures.

“The ACB instituted investigations which established that there was indeed procurement at ESCOM which was done without following laid procedures,” she said.

ESCOM is currently in deep debts, owing banks and other companies K40 billion and Electricity Generation Company K50 billion.

The power supplier has also been making news in social media for wrong reasons; buying fuel for apolitically connected people.

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).