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| DPP issues Press statement |
That the Cashgate Scandal at Capitol Hill is of the greatest national importance is very obvious to us all. Every Malawian of good-will shall want to contribute reasonably towards its end and pray that justice prevails.
Unfortunately, what is happening in some media houses, the Peoples’ Party (PP) and in Government circles is an orchestrated attempt to demonize the Democratic Progressive Party, to tarnish images of innocent and even deceased persons. The aim is to divert the attention from the real horrors of Cashgate and shift blame to DPP. The story that K90bn was stolen under DPP between 2009 and 2012 is one of such attempts, but they will all fail.
The DPP is equally, if not more horrified at this callous looting of poor innocent tax payers’ money that’s happening in Cashgate. The plunder must stop, the DPP will leave no effort unturned to make justice prevail and have poor Malawians regain their stolen resources.
If the PP Government and their sponsored journalists are serious about the alleged theft of K90bn, the DPP challenges them to come with documented evidence of such huge sums of stolen money. As is the case in the current Cashgate Scandal, we want cheque details, vouchers, or audit queries for lack of vouchers, beneficiaries of the stolen cash, and signatories of the cheques and vouchers. If any current DPP functionaries are involved and confirmed in such creditable evidence, then we in the new DPP shall be the first to take disciplinary action against him/her and let the law take its course. We are serious. This nonsense has got to stop so that we move ahead with the development of our country.
On the other hand, if anyone, including the President continues in these reckless and undocumented demonizations of DPP, we must give warning that we will take such individuals to court. If the President were to continue insinuating or attacking late Bingu or DPP under Presidential immunity, she must know that she is abusing her executive privileges. She herself has spoken against tarnishing images of innocent people. She must walk the talk. She must also remember that her immunity is not for life.
President Banda must also not forget that she was No. 2 in the DPP Government during the period in question, i.e. 2009 to 2012. This is when the DPP allegedly stole K90bn. Now that Bingu is gone, she becomes the top culprit in this plunder if the story were true.
Moreover, when she moved to PP, she took with her many DPP functionaries, including Rt Hon Khumbo Kachali, Hon Henry Phoya, Hon Lucius Kanyumba, Hon Catherine Gotani Hara, Hon Ken Kandodo, Hon John Bande, Hon Siddik Mia, Hon Ken Lipenga, Hon Peter Mwanza, Hon Cornelius Mwalwanda, Hon Ephraim Mganda Chiume and many others who were in the DPP Cabinet. Under the principle of collective responsibility in Cabinet, they fully share the responsibility on the K90bn theft, if the story is true. In this regard, they could have perfected their stealing tricks from the K90bn theft saga to the present more callous Cashgate looting skills.
Such reasoning and accusations however would amount to no more than kindergarten politics. This is not the kind of wrong-doing that Malawians are looking for. They are looking for the kind of evidence and documents that have come out in the Cashgate thefts. We demand similar evidence and documentation in the K90bn alleged theft. Failing this will force us to take legal action because it will mean that there is no such evidence.
We must also repeat our demand that the President and her PP government must substantiate their repeated accusations that the DPP Government stopped the investigation on the K400m scam. We want the name of the authority that stopped the investigation and documentation of the order to do so. The name of the agent or agents that were stopped from doing the inquiry must be stated as well. There must be some documentation of such communication on a matter of such national importance. That is why we are insisting on documentation to come out. We made this demand a few days ago in Parliament, but we have had no response up to now. Failure to substantiate these accusations leaves the DPP with no option but to believe that there is no such evidence.
We know that many former DPP functionaries now in PP are involved in this looting of taxpayer’s cash, although they are shouting like Political Saints in PP. We were disappointed that they were still left in the new cabinet after the dissolution. We are nevertheless confident that the credible forensic audit, when it finally comes, shall flush them out of their hiding cabinet cages.
The PP have been in government for over 18 months and they are only coming up with 90bn Kwacha theft allegations now. The President said she smelt a rat regarding Ifmis about 5 months ago but did nothing to prevent the most recent looting of 20bn Kwacha of taxpayer’s money. She and others are coming up with 400m Kwacha scam accusations after Cashgate. They are also talking about the dubious and unsigned contract of the Ifmis contract when many of them have been in the very DPP government since the onset of that Ifmis system. All this shows us how desperate they are to divert attention from Cashgate. They are behaving like a cornered mouse.
We must inform the public that the current DPP is a new and different political organization especially with the departure of the above-named individuals who moved to the Peoples’ Party. We want evidence of any specific wrong-doers in our new DPP if there are any. We shall readily let the law deal with them. But we shall no longer stand by as the culprits and wrong- doers of Cashgate try to orchestrate the tarnishing of our image and in the process hope to bury Cashgate. We shall expose their deceit in court whenever it is necessary.
We urge the PP and government together with their sponsored journalists to take Cashgate seriously. Stop politics for a change this time, bring out evidence, and tell us who has enough credible evidence against him and has been arrested. Stop smearing mud against anyone before he or she has been convicted in a competent court of law. Trial and conviction in the media or on a political platform shall not work for anyone this time. Malawians know better and they are tired of being treated like half-wits.
SECRETARY GENERAL DPP
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