By Lawrence Kadammanja, Investigative Reporter
Change has two outcomes – Change can bring either a happy new beginning or it can be the start or a downhill regreattable experience. However , it appears the suspension of State House Chief of Staff Prince Kampondamgaga has brought sanity to the number one plot with our investigations revealing that, most of the staff feel happy and are now working without fear .
It is clear from the investigations that Kampondamgaga did run the state house as his personal house- he was the main man who would call all the shots. One could argue that , yes, he was the Director of State Residences so he was in his right to be the top guy. That is understandable , but being a despotic boss , having your subordinates work in fear, having no respect for your juniors and doing your best to make it difficult for people to meet the President would not qualify as being a good boss
According to staff who have secretly spoken to our investigative reporter , life under Kampondamgaga was a nightmare “The problem is that he thought he had the president in his pocket, he never feared anyone and everyone had to dance to his tune ” said one of the concerned staff.
Opinion from the political spectrum also have nothing positive to say about Kapondamgaga. It appears , him and Former Secretary to the President Zangazanga Chikhosi were the epitome of misdirecting the President . The two powerful men often conived to deal with anyone attempting to come close to the president – they were key decision makers and those that crossed their way had only one fate – losing their positions or having no opportunity whatsoever from the new government. In two years time , Kampondamgaga and Chikhosi had become so untouchable to the point where three quarters of the government appointments had to go through them. Their friends , family were favoured leaving out party loyalists who had relentlessly fought against DPP to help secure Chakwera Presidency.
It is worthy noting that during Kapondamgaga reign at the helm, state house and the party MCP never had a good working relationship. Kapondamgaga made sure that the connection between the party and statehouse should be non exitent. Why he did this shall remain a mystery – but its obvious that the attempt was to shut out anyone who would tell the president the truth about what was happenning on the ground.
But who is kapondamgaga?- well, he is no stranger to the President inner circle . The president could not have just appointed him if he didnt trust him. It is believed that he was the erand boy for President Chakwera from the days that he was the leader of opposition. Recently he was mentioned by the vice president Saulos Chililma that he was also intrumental in getting MCP get into an alliance with UTM.
The ongoing Investigations by the British National Crime Agency and the report that the Anti corruption Bureau(ACB) presented to President Chakwera left the president with no choice but to suspend his Director of state residences. It is alleged that Kapondamgaga was at the helm of so many dodgy deals that involved receiving money from Zuneth Sattar to help him secure government contracts. As one can run , but comes a time when hiding becomes difficult , Kapondamgamga couldnt hid no more and his evil deeds had to catch up with him- President Chakwera who trusted him so much was left with no choice but to fire him from the state house .
All over a sudden the departure of the iron fist man , has given a new lease of life for state house staff. Staff motivation is once again at an all time high. More importantly , the relationship between Malawi Congress Party and the state house has improved so much. There is no more gatekeeping in who can meet the president , and the President is getting to hear what is happening on the groung more now. It is not wrong to suggest that the past 2 years has been problematic adminstratively for Chakwera due to the conduct of Kapondamgaga and Zanga zanga Chikhosi. Now that the two are gone – Chakwera has set himself a perfect ground to be who he is , the man that Malawians trusted to change the fortunes of this country
