Last time I checked, sentencing of Cashgate convict Leonard Kalonga, who pleaded guilty in August 2015 to theft and laundering about K3 billion was still pending.
Something fishy is obviously afoot when you contrast the ensuing shilly-shallying with the sentencing of his boss, former Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Tourism Tressa Senzani (now late), the most senior civil servant convicted under Cashgate, which was done in record time.

Senzani’s arrest, trial and conviction saw the wheels of justice moving unimpeded for the first time in our history. Like a ravenous eagle after a hapless prey, in one swooping movement the long arm of the law reached out, arrested, tried, and convicted her.

As if following the same speed, after her release from prison she has just quickly left this world for, hopefully, a better place. Hence the sombre title above: dziko lapansi sindiyesa kwathu.

Senzani stole public funds, lived large for a while, the fortieth came and she got caught, owned up, and atoned for her deeds.

I hereby submit that having fallen from grace to disgrace and atoning her deeds, she is no worse as a villain than those still around, siphoning public funds with impunity and when our taxes run out, borrowing like nobody’s business all the while protecting other hyenas stealing our money, and yet claiming they are ‘delivering development’.

This is the lot we ought to rid Malawi of. We love them yes, but I wish God just loved them a little bit more.

Blues’ Orators, before we proceed, in the spirit of the season, may I ask you to join me humming the dirge below, made popular internationally by Jim Reeves:

“This world is not my home I’m just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore

Mbuye ndinu bwenzi langa ndithu
Ndichitenji kodi, kumwamba sikwathu?
Mnjelo akodola pakhomo lam’mwamba
Ndipo dziko lapansi sindiyesa kwathu”

Blues Orators, as living beings with work to do, we will let the dead bury the dead and move on.

Back to the Kalonga court case, the reasons for delaying his sentencing change every day.

First, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale was too preoccupied with the Paul Mphwiyo shooting trial and hence unavailable.

Then the court needed to conduct a Newton hearing before submissions in sentencing.

A Newton hearing is held when a situation arises at mitigation stage whereby the State and defence do not agree.

And apparently, in addition to the DPP’s unavailability, the State had not applied for a production order to bring Kalonga to court during the hearing.

The court had initially set February 29, 2016 for sentencing submissions. The case was adjourned to March 2 when Kachale finally turned up, but only to protest the inclusion of information in a document purportedly authored by Kalonga which lists the beneficiaries of the loot he siphoned from us.

In his mitigation submissions, Kalonga claims that the list was submitted to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when he wanted to plead guilty long before, but he was not allowed to do so.

For some reason, the ACB did not share the Kalonga List with Mrs Kachale, which I am made to believe contains a list of very, very big fish.

From ACB’s reluctance to share this with Mrs Kachale, one can surmise that some characters on that Kalonga List have muscle enough to lean on the ACB not – under any circumstances – to make that public.

I will get back to this.

Kalonga as you are aware, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud government using forged documents and paying public funds to bogus suppliers.

Other charges included laundering of K520 million where he facilitated, abated and aided acquisition of six Scania Marco polo semi-luxury buses on instruction from then Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo between April and September.

From all this maze, Blues’ Orators, key is the list with ACB. It holds the answers to the two questions that remain unanswered to date.

The first question is: why is it that the only people arrested under cash gate are technocrats and mainly small businessmen when it is clear that these people could not have siphoned the funds without tacit approval or facilitation or even the collaboration of some people high up?

The second and perhaps more poignant is: let’s assume the Kalonga List has people ONLY from former Pres Joyce Banda’s phase of cash gate, why should the ACB shield them by hiding the list?

What would ACB be waiting for before arresting the people who Kalonga says were his loot-mates?

It follows Blues’ Orators that on the enigmatic Kalonga List, are individuals high up in the current administration of President Peter Mutharika waiting for their fortieth day.

It follows Blues’ Orators that Mutharika and his goons have no moral high ground to continue blaming cash gate on Joyce Banda and her burgling Peoples Party (PP) when all evidence points to them as the real architects.

IF Mutharika wants to absolve himself and the hyenas he is keen on eating with, he ought to give a directive to the ACB to provide Mrs Kachale with that list so that Kalonga can be served justice and the people with whom he shared our resources be served their quotas of shame and disgrace.

Coming back to the just departed, if my religion teaches me anything, Mrs Senzani atoned for her mistakes and ceteris paribus, has now found peace.

The question is: what have we learned from her life and death?

I have learnt the timelessness of the wisdom that three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth and that raging fire drifts where it has yet to scorch.