On two consecutive Fridays, I argued that the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) has mutated into a toothless bulldog incapable of scaring anything.

Blue Talkers, I erred. I led you astray. Mea culpa.

So, while you are still in the mood of forgiving overzealous clowns as you recently did with Hon Grace Obama Chiumia, please forgive me.

Truth is: The ACB is now a rabid hyena, mauling everything free from rabies that inadvertently crosses its path; but fiercely protecting fellow hyenas rotten and sick to the core with the highly contagious and vicious disease called corruption.

And that while stakeholders have questioned ACB’s effectiveness since its establishment in 1998, the current ACB is breaking all records and will grab the gold for not only failing to fight corruption but for zealously and jealously abetting and condoning it.

To his credit, now let us call a spade by its name, Monsieur Lucas Kondowe’s incompetence and unfitness for the leadership of the Bureau are a reflection of the same in the appointing authority for reasons now becoming clear.

Before proceeding, allow me to reiterate that as long as the ACB remains subjugated to a corrupt appointing authority, we might as well close it.

From recent developments that saw its director starring in two separate headlines, we would be better off, far better off without such a stinking organisation.

Look at this: After throwing spanners in Bakili Muluzi’s straightforward K1.7 billion fraud case and after providing refuge to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) National Organising Secretary Richard Makondi and businessperson Mohammad Kassam of Globe Electronics on Cashgate-related cases, one would have thought Kondowe and his team would have the decency to begin redeeming what is left of their reputation.

But no, not this lot.

They have now raised their game, mixing selective acceptance of the Attorney General’s (AG) advice with cherry picking on when to be independent and when not to be, as the situation suits their hyena schemes.

Let me elaborate.

While Kondowe was lightning-quick in adopting and waving around AG Kalekeni Kaphale’s patently bad counsel against the naming, shaming and prosecuting the seven ministers involved in the K577 billion-now-K236billion Cashgate, he has now made a U-turn and trashed the same AG in the K6.8 billlion contract awarded to Terrastone Limited by the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera), conveniently shoving the independence card onto our noses.

Where was this independence when the same Kaphale was gagging him with respect to the President’s Cashgate tainted hyenas?

In case you missed last Saturday’s weekenders, both the Malawi News and Weekend Nation were unequivocal, saying Mera complied with all statutory requirements and sought and obtained a no-objection from the Office of Director of Public Procurement (ODPP) before awarding Terrastone Limited the contract to construct its office complex in Lilongwe.

All t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted. But you know what hit Mera?

In a Mafioso manoeuvre that would leave Al Pacino reeling with envy, not just anyone but Kondowe jumped in, threatened Mera’s Chief Executive Ralph Kamoto that he would burn his fingers if he did not award the contract to Sagecoa and he, Kondowe, would personally put the procurement process in neutral gear.

And behold, the process is now in neutral gear, Mera will get an indefensible legal suit and a heavy fine which you and I, the Malawi taxpayer, will pay, thanks to Kondowe, our protector.

Who does that?

What is worrying is not the ACB’s intervention, no; to the contrary, a proactive ACB is what Malawi has been missing. Rather, it is the professional [mis] conduct by Kondowe in attempting to illegally arm-twist a public official breaking no law.

While Kondowe happily accepted being gagged on the seven corrupt hyenas in Peter Mutharika’s cabinet, when advised on Mera, he climbed an anthill, shouting himself hoarse that he cannot be advised by the AG because ACB is independent.

Double standards or a hitherto innocent soul heading to Hades?

Compare and contrast this: While seven ministers were implicated in the K236 billion DPP ‘Cashgate’ and the independent ACB Czar and Mutharika are conveniently looking the other way; and while ACB investigators found Makondi and Kassam with cases to answer and warrants of arrest were duly obtained but Kondowe is content to sit on it; on a tip-off from a connected hyena, Kondowe springs like a hungry hyena, too happy to pounce on a hapless Mera.

And what is more, instead of just investigating the tip-off, Kondowe directs Mera to award the contract to Sagecoa and not the duly selected and ODPP-approved contractor.

Again I ask: Who does that?

Perhaps more poignantly, where is all this taking us to? My fellow Blue Talkers, we are in grave danger.

Mutharika, for better or for worse, has elected to serve as the Caiaphas of corruption and, by extension, all his henchmen have assumed roles of deacons in their collective quest to pay homage to the evil called corruption.

This prospect, aided and abetted by an equally corrupt ACB Czar, is the reason Malawi is doomed to remain hopelessly behind.

You cannot tolerate a president who dines and wines with corrupt hyenas and an overzealous bootlicking ACB Czar protecting the very thieves he is supposed to send to jail and yet eager to persecute those following due process to give us, the taxpayers, value for money; and expect progress.

No ways.

If this combination is not checked in time, it is hell on earth for us, our children and their children.

To put it in black and white, these hyenas are looting so much of our funds that unlike previous governments, they cannot afford to adequately subsidise university fees leading to the ridiculous University fee-increase, and the laughable presidential decrease of a mere K50,000.

It is only hyenas that can think of a banquet hall, to dine and wine, while the rest of us die like chickens because of lack of essential drugs and medical equipment.

Is this a travesty of justice? No. This is the outcome of muvi woyang’anira; time to say ‘enough is enough’ is now.