#cashgate

[deepfinds-blog]

Cashgate – Latterly – Medium In February last year, I flew to Washington, D.C., to meet Banda. She left Malawi in September 2014, a few months after the election loss, and moved into her daughter’s condominium in Fairfax, Virginia, with her husband, former Chief Justice of Malawi Richard Banda.

[tvafrinet]

Malawi issues arrest warrant for former president over graft scandal

Malawi issues arrest warrant for former president over graft scandal

LILONGWE – Malawi has issued an arrest warrant for its former President Joyce Banda over alleged abuse of office and money laundering offences over a two-year period when she was in office, a police spokesman said on Monday. Banda’s spokesman denied any wrongdoing. The alleged offences were part of a wider corruption scandal uncovered in 2013, in which senior government office siphoned millions…

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[malawistar]

Malawi Human Rights Defenders speak out on MPs Laptop Purchases

Social and human rights commentator Undule Mwakasungula speaks out against MPs purchase of laptops while they, at the same time, call for austerity.

A social and human rights commentator has accused Parliament of stealing 193 laptops during a time when Malawi was going through a period of financial difficulties in 2014, when donors withdrew $150 million in budgetary support due to “cashgate.”

Undule Mwakasungula said Parliament must be ashamed of themselves if they claim to represent the ordinary citizens.

“As MPs, their priority should be on the people and not their personal interests. Therefore, investing in health must be paramount to save the nation from lots of billions in kwacha paid for treatment done outside the country such as in India, South Africa and others,” Mwakasungula said.

“It is to be understood that at this very moment in time, Malawi is going through difficult financial situations and as legislators, they should have thought about leaving out certain benefits and luxuries for the good of the nation.”

Teachers, police, and nurses, as well as young people, are going through a lot of challenges now and the MPs need to sympathize with the people, he said.

“For some of us the laptop purchase was a misplaced priority done at the time everybody, including the same MPs, is talking of austerity.  Parliament is failing the nation for sure – their priorities are upside down.”

Mwakasungula has since appealed to the Public Accounts Committee to explain further to the nation on the deal.

“We need an explanation because we are hearing conflicting versions even from controlling officers on this purchase that does not speak to the problems which Malawi is going through right now,” Mwakasungula said.

Another human rights defender, Billy Mayaya said it is unfortunate that Malawi can spend a lot of money on laptops while the people continue to suffer.

“MPs are rich already. Why are they spending millions on people who could afford the purchase on their own,” Mayaya said.

Malawi Human Rights Defenders speak out on MPs Laptop Purchases was originally published on The Malawi Star

[malawistar]

Cashgate Saga at Silver Strikers Football Club

Cashgate Saga at Silver Strikers Football Club

By: Andrew Cane Chilapondwa

Silver Strikers executive committee is under fire for blowing K54 million from their K70 million Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) sponsorship for this season.

According to information reaching The Malawi Star, the swindled money was used as collateral in order to make sure that football players at the club are receiving their perks in the 2016 season.

The executive committee, which is being led by Oscar Mabulekesi, failed to explain to RBM Governor Charles Tchuka on what has happened to the financial package since the kick off of the 2016 football season last week.

It has been reported that the Executive committee is being investigated for embezzlement. Mabulekesi alongside treasurer Fred Kalonga and General Secretary Chimwemwe Nkhwimba are at the helm of the suspected fraudulent committee.

When summoned, the officials lied to the Governor by showing him fake receipts and invoices which indicated that the team had some arrears.

An inside source has also confided with the publication that some executive members have been suspended by the team’s board of trustees with immediate effect as a result of these mind boggling revelations.

Only 30 percent of the total financial allocation has been used in players’ wages and signing new players to the team, but the rest of the package has miraculously vanished.

This means Silver Strikers club is with less than K18 million from their package in the bank, which will greatly cripple their operations. This will be the biggest cashgate saga to have happened in Malawian football.

Cashgate Saga at Silver Strikers Football Club was originally published on The Malawi Star

[malawistar]

Cashgate Player 'Katengeza' Awaits for Sentence

By:Chikondi Magalasi

One of the cashgate participants, Angela Katengeza, is now in police custody waiting for sentencing after High Court in Lilongwe, on Monday found her guilty of the money laundering charge. She is believed to have used her company’s bank account to launder about K105 million.

Angela Katengeza: Guilty and awaiting sentencing

At first Katengeza was charged alongside Leonard Kalonga who is a former tourism officer in the Ministry of Tourism but the case was dropped after he pleaded guilty to all the charges levelled against him.

The defence lawyer stated that Kalonga took advantage of his family issues to involve Katengeza in the infamous cashgate case by transacting using her Company ‘ Faith Construction’, but she did not benefit anything from the money.

In her Judgement, Justice Fiona Mwale, said that Katengeza could have known that lending Kalonga the National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) certificate was illegal. She should also have known that the money which was given by Kalonga was tainted because she had no knowledge that he was in the construction industry.

Mwale said it was clear that Kalonga did not ask her first to keep the money but asked to use her NCIC certificate which meant that there was trust between the two.

“This court, on the basis of the prosecution proving beyond any reasonable doubt finds the accused guilty of money laundering. Bail is therefore revoked and the accused will be remanded in custody awaiting sentencing,” Mwale said.

The offence committed by Katengeza is contrary to Section 13 of the Money Laundering, Proceeds of Serious Crime and Terrorism Act

Cashgate Player ‘Katengeza’ Awaits for Sentence was originally published on The Malawi Star

[faithtales]

What I want to be- Part II

During the holiday, a friend of mine studying Business administration decided “we don’t talk about intelligent stuff a lot”, so we had a long conversation about the depreciating Malawi Kwacha and how everything has gone wrong when donors withdrew their funds after they found out billions of money was stolen by top government officials. We shared great ideas on ways we can improve the development of Malawi (and his business knowledge came in handy), and I told him I would ask my dad about these ideas, if anything could/has been done. So I explained to dad about the two great ideas we had, and he just nodded and he had his eyes closed, I’m not even sure if he was listening, but after I poured my heart out, he said, “All these ideas you have have been written before, have you heard of “Malawi Growth Strategy something-something”? The book has very great ideas! You know why nothing is being done? Politicians run this country, not Economists. Their motive is personal gain, not developing Malawi.”

I just felt like a deflated balloon right then. I’m so sure students before me have thought about all these ideas we had, and maybe got frustrated too when nothing seemed to work out. Then I asked myself, what is the use of all this education I’m getting if it will all be blocked by some greedy politician and corrupt officials? Why am I even going to uni if it will all be useless in the end? That’s when I decided that unlike every other person that has had these great ideas and got discouraged, I will do something about it. I will not sit still and sigh about how bad things in Malawi are and DO NOTHING.

So I came to an understanding that a big part of the problem was political. I asked a Political Science student friend of mine about it, and he explained that there was nothing in the direction I wanted to take (which means, yes, there’s a gap, which is why development in Malawi is stagnant but of course, it is a very complex matter). My dad said this one thing that struck me and has been on my mind for a while now, which made me take this direction. He said, “Malawians are very inactive citizens. We are a very very passive people and we treat the government like our father when in fact, they are OUR SERVANTS.” We treat our president and our MPs like some mighty men. Well, NO! We have elected you so we can demand things from YOU! And we all know a big majority of Malawians is uneducated and don’t know this, so what do politicians do? Take advantage of this ignorance.

I am a very vocal person when it comes to issues such as customer service. I rant about customer service almost every week (thank God for twitter where I can rant to no one but feel good after, LOL). I have had rows with shop assistants, nurses, receptionists, et cetera, because they were not doing their job. Just last month, I got into an argument in a China Shop, because the shop assistant wanted me to arrange the items I had touched and I refused, and told him that that is his job. He gets paid to arrange the items after the customer, so why should I do his job like I get paid too? (Of course I went back the next day and apologized because it was quite a heated argument and my conscience condemned me). I also have issues with most Indians (I’m not even being racist, most Indians in Malawi act in this manner), who treat you like YOU have gone to beg from them in their shops and make no eye contact with you as the customer what-so-ever, smoking their fags or tapping away on their smart phone… Okay, first of all, I’m in your shop to give you MY MONEY, and secondly, it is YOUR JOB to smile at me, I don’t care how bad your day is going, when a customer enters your shop, you smile and do everything to please them so they can give you that money (I know this because I worked in customer service for over a year). So ain’t no way I’m giving my hard earned money to someone who doesn’t even know how to greet me when I enter the shop. I will walk away and buy from someone who is willing to give me their attention.

I have had so many of such encounters, and I have always spoken about it, with no regard to race, age, or sex. Where am I driving at? Malawians have forgotten whose job is whose. Suddenly the customer is rearranging items in a China shop, and the customer is begging the shop keeper for his attention… well, that is not the customer’s job. And it certainly isn’t an MPs job to just claim allowances every month and buy real estate with money that was meant to go into development projects for his/her area. What’s the use if policy makers spend time planning projects when all the money ends up in someone’s pocket? There was an issue of “cashgate” in Malawi recently, where BILLIONS of Malawi Kwacha was stolen at Capital Hill by civil servants… Guys, I mean BILLIONS! In a country as poor as Malawi, where a primary school teacher spends months waiting for his/her salary when one person steals all that money just to buy him/herself 10 cars, and build a 20 bedroom house when s/he only has 2 kids. Imagine how heartless that is and just how much it has affected the whole nation. Okay, let me not go off topic, this issue could be a whole other post.

When I got to my Sociology class, I found that the head of department had suddenly changed the rules, and had decided that those who only took one course in second year cannot take ANY sociology course in third year. I had already done the online registration but people who came and registered after me couldn’t and almost everyone gave up right then and there and took courses from other departments. “Guys, won’t we fight for it? This is unfair, we were told in second year that we could take Sociology, even with one course!” but people just shrugged and left me there alone. “Malawians are passive citizens,” I remembered what dad told me. Yes, they just take things as they are, no action done, and go on a-suffering. I decided that I wasn’t gonna take it. I have goals, and I have Sociology planned in them. I had prayed over what courses to take, and I was damn sure this was it, so why should I let one person get in my way?

For you to understand why everyone just gave up, you should see the head of the sociology department. I went there and presented my case, and she told me that the rules have changed, and the route map used on second year was different now, and she kept repeating, “RULES ARE RULES!” and I would try and explain that the route map last year showed that it was possible for me to minor even if I took one course. “There’s nothing I can do about it!” she exclaimed, “and I won’t approve you!” But I didn’t back down, I kept on pestering her and I could tell she was getting really annoyed with me. I was in her office for about 30 minutes, pleading my case, how she can’t just change rules overnight. If there’s something I’ve learnt at my uni, it’s that tears can get you through negotiations (a group of us were once evicted because we were caught cooking in the dorms and tears got us our rooms back) and I tried this on her and thought that as a woman, she would feel for me and look at me through motherly eyes… My days! I wish I just held my tears back. She didn’t even look up at me, she stood her ground and said she wasn’t gonna change the rules and she continued typing on her computer, ignoring my sniffles.

The most heartbreaking part was when my friends told me I was fighting a losing battle and that I should give up, because the route maps for almost every department had changed and everyone around campus had just accepted it, so why can’t I? Umm, maybe cause I am actually passionate about the courses I am being barred from? And maybe because I’m not gonna let someone impose new rules without giving any notice, and just take it. It really felt like no one understood what I was going through, and it sucked! A few friends did encourage me, and a Law student friend of mine wrote a letter for me (because his English is formal and too awesome!) which I was to give the Dean of Social Science together with my grades from second year. So anyway, looong story short, after going to the office of the dean and finding it closed for over 2 days (thanks to all the demonstrations that were going on), I finally met him and he was so understanding. I don’t know how it happened, and I will owe this entirely to the God I had been praying to, when I logged into my student account with the dean, I found that I had been approved, and he said that I could go into the lectures with no fear, because I am now a Sociology minor. I was sooo happy I just went mad with joy because, finally, I had won the fight and I won’t lie, it felt good to prove people that discouraged me wrong.

I had a long talk with the Political Science student friend againcand we talked about why Malawians are passive citizens, why they let things they are not happy with just happen, and he pointed out that one of the reasons is that there’s no local accountability which means most people don’t know who to report their problems to or they complain to the wrong people; and one thing he told me that I won’t ever forget, is that if I want to develop Malawi, I should start by developing myself.

So, what do I want to be? An Economist, Sociologist and I will not stop there. I want to be an activist… I don’t know how, and my ideas may be vague at the moment, but I will get there… so help me God.

  -“Who are you? Who do you want to be? They are one and the same.”

-“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”- Martin Luther King Jr.

-Isaiah 1:17- Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

                   -Proverbs 24:24-25 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou [art] righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke [him] shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

[brianbrownnet]

A new article has been published on www.brianbrown.net

New Post has been published on http://www.brianbrown.net/2014/10/07/malawi-jails-woman-over-cashgate/

Malawi jails woman over 'Cashgate'

7 October 2014 Last updated at 20:02

Malawi has jailed its first senior official for the so-called “Cashgate” affair – the worst financial scandal in the country’s history.

A court in Lilongwe sentenced former tourism official Treza Senzani to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

She pleaded guilty to stealing $150,000 (£93,000) of government money.

At least 70 people have been arrested over “Cashgate” after an audit revealed that about $30m had been skimmed from the government payment system.

Businessmen and politicians are alleged to have connived with civil servants to make payments for goods and services that were never delivered.

Western donor nations and agencies, which provide 40% of Malawi’s budget, pulled the plug on vital aid worth around $150m in reaction to the scandal.

Allegations of the massive looting of government money became public following the shooting of the finance ministry’s then budget director Paul Mphwiyo in September 2013.

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[mabvutobanda]

#MALAWI: MORE CASHGATE ARRESTS EXPECTED

#MALAWI: MORE CASHGATE ARRESTS EXPECTED

By Mabvuto Banda

President Peter Mutharika’s government has stepped up investigations

More arrests in the cashgate scam are in the offing as the new administration steps up investigations to get to the main players and beneficiaries, Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale disclosed, warning that no one will be spared if found to have participated in the looting of public funds.

Kaphale, who lauded the…

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