PRESS CONFERENCE

HELD ON 3RD OCTOBER, 2013 NATIONAL PARTY HEADQUARTERS, LILONGWE

Malawi Congress Party is gravely saddened with ongoing shameless revelations involving alleged selfish acts of plunder or looting of government coffers by some senior government officials in a collaborative syndicate in the civil service.

If the reports from the media as well as the recent expressed sentiments by our developmental partners are anything to go by, the Malawi Congress Party holds the conviction that enough is enough Malawi people deserve a representative patriotic voice to call the powers that be to task to address the vices currently going unchecked.

For many a times, Malawians have witnessed incidents that clearly demonstrated failure by the current administration to control its own machinery. The list is shamelessly long to highlight, however, Malawians do bear the much agonising testimony to the following:
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I.

Hospitals across the country are at the edge of shutdown due to lack of funding for availability of essential drugs.

II.

Maize is now hardly available in all ADMARC depots, and where maize is available, it is rationed up to 10kgs per person regardless of individual family size.

III.

The sale proceeds of our Presidential Jet at US$15million have not been accounted for, despite the nation being told that they would go for procurement of maize.

IV.

The nation was informed that about 31,000 metric tonnes of maize had gone rotten in our national maize silos, but up to date no one knows the whereabouts of the rotten maize, nor how it has been disposed of.

V.

While the people of Malawi were in the state of shock over the above highlighted testimonies another vice came to the public notice; the looting of government coffers at the Capital Hill under the nose of the whole Minister of Finance as well as the Chief Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury as the State President, in her right thinking capacity, decided to fly out of the country leaving it in such a mess and took leave for luxurious breather outside the country.

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Malawi Congress Party further notes that the on-going looting of government purse is going to affect delivery of most crucial social services to the detriment of the livelihood of all Malawians. These services include: I. II. III. IV. Availability of medical drugs and services. Payment of civil servants salaries. Implementation of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme. Availability of learning and teaching materials in all government schools and institutions. V. Holding of tripartite elections next year.

With the foregoing, Malawi Congress Party would categorically demand the following: I. The State President, currently outside the country, immediately cut short the trip and come home in acknowledgement of the laxity in the fiscal discipline in her administration and proceed to summon an Emergency Meeting of Parliament to deal with this national financial crisis. II. The Malawi Congress Party maintains the conviction that the current crisis in the Ministry of Finance demands the immediate and voluntary stepping aside of the Minister of Finance, Chief Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury from their respective lines of duty since these are top
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most senior government officials entrusted with control and management of budgetary funds. Worse in the least, in respect of the Minister in question, this is the second time financial mess has happened under his leadership in the same Ministry beginning with the Malawi Revenue Authority saga.

Malawi Congress Party would like to remind the State President that the Republican Constitution demands that the State President and her government should adopt and implement sound policies to achieve good economic management, public trust and good governance. the mandate to govern. Anything short of this Constitutional standard, the current administration is as good as relinquishing

The Constitution further states that authority to exercise power of the State is conditional upon the sustained trust of the people of Malawi, and that trust can only be maintained through an open, accountable and transparent government.

Therefore, the Malawi Congress Party appeals to the current administration to ensure that the so-much taunted efforts by the President in instructing the Police and the ACB to thoroughly investigate the current financial looting at the Government (civil service) offices are not hindered by deliberate external political influences nor deliberate frustrative denial of adequate provision of required resources to these institutions entrusted to carry out the alleged investigation.
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Malawi Congress Party passionately believes in the notion of upholding principles of rule of law. In holding such belief, the Party shall remain vigilant in watching with keen interest the manner these investigations are carried out.

Our interest is also to see that relevant Parliamentary Committees take on board in all steps being taken by these Investigative authorities so that there is a departure from the business-as-usual approach which has previously seen most investigative efforts yielding unsatisfactory results and most often Case files dying premature deaths.

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