By Chisomo Phiri
In consolidating the efforts of his administration in the fight against corruption in the country, the Malawi’s servant leader President Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday February 22,2023 chaired an interagency meeting attended by the Anti-Corruption Bureau ( ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma and Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo.
According to the President’s facebook post on his page, others who attended the meeting include Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba, the Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda and the Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala.
The President said the cordial engagement among these critical institutions further cements his administration’s resolve to deal with corruption with a seamless approach that bears fruits.
The Malawi leader advised the institutional heads to work collaboratively, guided by the county’s laws.
Wrote Chakwera in a facebook post “I have prompted the institutional heads to collaboratively undertake their noble duty guided only by the sovereign administrative and legal statutes above anything else.”
The meeting comes weeks after Zamba, on 31 January, suspended Chizuma from exercising her duties as Anti-Corruption Bureau chief because she was facing charges related to remarks she made in a leaked audio.
It was reported that the decision to suspend Chizuma was made after a government official lied to Chakwera that the ACB had obtained a warrant of arrest against First Lady Monica Chakwera.
The interdiction of Chizuma led to a court battle as Malawi Law Society (MLS) obtained an injunction against Chizuma’s criminal charges and interdiction. The government through Attorney General Nyirenda unsuccessfully challenged the injunction at the High Court before going to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
However, DPP Chamkakala stepped in by dropping the charges against Chizuma and this forced the Attorney General to withdraw the interdiction case at the Supreme Court and Zamba to cancel the interdiction.
