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PRESS RELEASE
President Joyce Banda Must Act Swiftly And Decisively On Mphwiyo Shooting
Lilongwe, 16th September 2013: On Friday, 13th September 2013 unknown assailants shot Mr Paul Mphwiyo Malawi’s Director of Budget in the Ministry of Finance, at his home.
Mr Paul Mphwiyo is the overall boss of the Malawi national budget, responsible for its drafting and implementation. He replaced Dr Dalitso Kabambe whom President Joyce Banda removed earlier in the year.
The shooting happened on Friday night when Mphwiyo was driving home from work. He was shot 3 times at the gate of his house. He managed to drive in and then collapsed. He was at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe until Sunday afternoon when he was airlifted to South Africa where he is fighting for his life.
Circumstances surrounding the heinous attack on Mr Mphwiyo are suspicious. According to witnesses including police officers and the victim’s wife, Mphwiyo was visited by 2 well known lawyers, one of whom is a cabinet minister, who instructed him how he should deal with the big financial scam where K120 million cash was found in the hands of some 'junior' civil servant at the ministry.
The lawyers then apparently drove to Reserve Bank of Malawi and Fiscal Police also to advise these competent authorities as to how to handle this 'unusual' catch. Mr Mphwiyo, it has been reported, refused to follow the irregular advice of the influential lawyers, opting instead to follow the law to the letter.
A few days later, a murder attempt was made on Mphwiyo.
Following the shooting, while the Malawi Police Service has, as usual, reassured the nation that they are investigating the attack; developments have taken an interesting turn.
"On 14th September, the President of the Republic of Malawi, Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda announced at a public function that she knows Mr Mphwiyo's shooters and why Mphwiyo was attacked."
This is interesting. It either means the police have already finished their investigations and perhaps presented some sort of report to the President, or that the President owes the Police and the nation a favour. She should immediately cooperate with the police by revealing the suspects so that the Police can do their job.
Whatever the case, the president must ensure that these cowardly assailants and their pay masters are brought to book swiftly.
One can reasonably deduce from the president’s conduct on this sensitive matter that she is aware that her presidency has ultimate responsibility for Mphwiyo’s misfortune and its ultimate unraveling. Given that the President has already taken responsibility of the matter, Malawians are waiting to hear exactly what she knows regarding the attempted murder and how she will deal with the underlying motive.
President Joyce Banda has spoken many times about her administration’s commitment to combat corruption. We submit that this is a rare opportunity for the President to walk her talk on corruption matters by showing that she is prepared to protect all Malawians and especially civil servants who stick their neck out to resist, and expose corruption.
In acting swiftly to unravel the Mphwiyo shooting mystery, President Joyce Banda will re-assure Malawians of her presidency’s commitment to protect those dedicated to combating corruption from retaliation for their reporting misconduct, corruption, criminal activity, conflicts of interest, gross mismanagement and abuse of authority.
Of special interest in this matter are the rumours flying around that senior members of the Joyce Banda administration may have been involved in this unfortunate incident.
We submit that these allegations should provide the president the added incentive to come forward with what she knows regarding the shooting, and speak plainly and publicly if it is not true that some senior members of her administration are responsible.
The president needs to be reminded that the stain on her cabinet members will be a stain on her administration, and will be damaging not only to the international image that she has so carefully and craftily managed to build, but also to her already growing unpopularity with the Malawian populace.
Let her public pronouncements regarding her knowledge of the assailant of Mphwiyo not just peter out with time as empty rhetoric in similar manner to the claims she also made during the early days of her presidency that she knew the name of a "businessman" who was behind a spate of crimes which have been the feature of her administration. To this day, the name of that "businessman" has not been revealed, and yet crime continues to trouble the lives of Malawians, the latest example being the near-murder of Mphwiyo.
Mr Paul Mphwiyo is the overall boss of the Malawi national budget, responsible for its drafting and implementation. He replaced Dr Dalitso Kabambe whom President Joyce Banda removed earlier in the year.
The shooting happened on Friday night when Mphwiyo was driving home from work. He was shot 3 times at the gate of his house. He managed to drive in and then collapsed. He was at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe until Sunday afternoon when he was airlifted to South Africa where he is fighting for his life.
Circumstances surrounding the heinous attack on Mr Mphwiyo are suspicious. According to witnesses including police officers and the victim’s wife, Mphwiyo was visited by 2 well known lawyers, one of whom is a cabinet minister, who instructed him how he should deal with the big financial scam where K120 million cash was found in the hands of some 'junior' civil servant at the ministry.
The lawyers then apparently drove to Reserve Bank of Malawi and Fiscal Police also to advise these competent authorities as to how to handle this 'unusual' catch. Mr Mphwiyo, it has been reported, refused to follow the irregular advice of the influential lawyers, opting instead to follow the law to the letter.
A few days later, a murder attempt was made on Mphwiyo.
Following the shooting, while the Malawi Police Service has, as usual, reassured the nation that they are investigating the attack; developments have taken an interesting turn.
"On 14th September, the President of the Republic of Malawi, Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda announced at a public function that she knows Mr Mphwiyo's shooters and why Mphwiyo was attacked."
This is interesting. It either means the police have already finished their investigations and perhaps presented some sort of report to the President, or that the President owes the Police and the nation a favour. She should immediately cooperate with the police by revealing the suspects so that the Police can do their job.
Whatever the case, the president must ensure that these cowardly assailants and their pay masters are brought to book swiftly.
One can reasonably deduce from the president’s conduct on this sensitive matter that she is aware that her presidency has ultimate responsibility for Mphwiyo’s misfortune and its ultimate unraveling. Given that the President has already taken responsibility of the matter, Malawians are waiting to hear exactly what she knows regarding the attempted murder and how she will deal with the underlying motive.
President Joyce Banda has spoken many times about her administration’s commitment to combat corruption. We submit that this is a rare opportunity for the President to walk her talk on corruption matters by showing that she is prepared to protect all Malawians and especially civil servants who stick their neck out to resist, and expose corruption.
In acting swiftly to unravel the Mphwiyo shooting mystery, President Joyce Banda will re-assure Malawians of her presidency’s commitment to protect those dedicated to combating corruption from retaliation for their reporting misconduct, corruption, criminal activity, conflicts of interest, gross mismanagement and abuse of authority.
Of special interest in this matter are the rumours flying around that senior members of the Joyce Banda administration may have been involved in this unfortunate incident.
We submit that these allegations should provide the president the added incentive to come forward with what she knows regarding the shooting, and speak plainly and publicly if it is not true that some senior members of her administration are responsible.
The president needs to be reminded that the stain on her cabinet members will be a stain on her administration, and will be damaging not only to the international image that she has so carefully and craftily managed to build, but also to her already growing unpopularity with the Malawian populace.
Let her public pronouncements regarding her knowledge of the assailant of Mphwiyo not just peter out with time as empty rhetoric in similar manner to the claims she also made during the early days of her presidency that she knew the name of a "businessman" who was behind a spate of crimes which have been the feature of her administration. To this day, the name of that "businessman" has not been revealed, and yet crime continues to trouble the lives of Malawians, the latest example being the near-murder of Mphwiyo.
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