LILONGWE (MaraviPost)—The National Audit Office has vehemently denied unfounded reports and allegations circulating on the social media about some government officials and business persons involved in misappropriation of public finances between 2009-2014.
Since last week, when Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) handed over results of data analysis in the K92 billion audit query, some government detractors have manipulated the procedure claiming that President Mutharika and other government officials were implicated in the report.
However, according to a statement from NAO signed by Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa, the data analysis results are only the first step towards a full forensic investigation and does not in any way mention anyone let alone implicating them.
“The data analysis in not a forensic audit, rather it is the first stage of such audit which needs to be looked into and will be followed by forensic investigations. From the data analysis alone, it is not possible to establish exact amounts or causes of the discrepancies nor how many of these funds were misappropriated. Therefore, at this stage, no loss of money has been determined nor the names of those behind it,” reads part of the statement made available to Maravi Post.
As a next step, the NAO, with support from German government, intends to conduct and finalise further investigations into the causes, individuals and companies involved and the amount of money concerned within a time frame of around 10 months.
The statement has come at a time when the unfounded speculation crept into mainstream governance institutions. Only last week, opposition parliamentarians strongly pointed out that they would not pass the budget up until the PWC report is presented before the House.
Their basis for such push, however, was coming because they believed the lies being paraded by social media users.
It is now clear that the clarification from the Auditor General has bursted the balloon for opposition members who viewed this as their only opportunity to derail the focus of President Mutharika and his government.
There are strong indications that former president Joyce Banda gave orders to the leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera to be hard on the Mutharika regime in the national assembly as a ploy to divert people’s attention from the ongoing cash-gate court cases which have fingerprints of the former president all over.
