The common tradition all over the world is that when you leave office, auditors come to do their work on you and produce the audited report where they indicate if at all there are some money or office items missing. This is done so that anyone coming to take over should not be in trouble and be punished because of your sins or misdeeds. Audited reports have to be produced and clear your name so as to safeguard your integrity. In here I want to show and argue that something need to be done in terms of auditing all the ten years of Bakili Muluzi’s rule so that Malawians should be aware on how Muluzi used tax payers money and also how donor monies were used. We share this notion because we believe that just as Managers, Directors and others produce audited reports of their work before they leave office, those in high political offices too need to do the same.
We all are aware that in 1994 Bakili Muluzi took over from Kamuzu Banda to become the first President of the land in a multiparty democracy in Malawi. Dr. Banda who was a very old man this time around moved from Sanjika to Mudi house in Blantyre. While at Mudi, Banda though old, went through a very difficult time in the hands of the UDF government who terrorized him as they wanted him to account for all his three decades rule in Malawi. This was the most tiring time for the old man and we can as well say that he died a sad man and no wonder that some of the sickness he suffered had to do with the way he was treated in his old age. We should not forget that the late Dr. Banda was told to appear in the court of law and was saved by the MCP women who protested and vowed that they will do everything under their power to protect their nkhoswe NO. 1. All Kamuzu property was investigated including his Bank transaction in UK and all this left Kamuzu a very sad man in his old age. We should not forget that this time Kamuzu was over 95 years and if anything he needed 100% support from government and not the kind of torture he went through. Infact it unMalawian to mistreat someone who is old and in the 90s.
While Kamuzu was investigated and brought to the court of law after the 1994 elections, it is surprising and shocking that the same measure used on Kamuzu is not applied on Muluzi. Just as kamuzu was asked to give account of all his three decades rule, Muluzi is suppose to give an account of how he rule the country.
While Kamuzu was questioned and had his property scrutinized and his accounts in UK investigated, Muluzi is left free and nobody is doing anything because by now we could have been having a report on how Muluzi became a Billionaire within his ten years of rule. Malawians need to know how much is Muluzi having in his oversea banks and assets? Then how did he manage to buy properties (if any) overseas and where did he get the money from. Now if he has any oversea properties then when did he acquire them? Was it after or before he became president in 1994? Malawians have no problem with what he had before 1994 because we all know how much Muluzi had and there are records of this. However the interest for every Malawians is on anything that he acquired after 1994 when he was sworn in as the president of the country. From the day of his inauguration, everything he began to acquire became something of interest to Malawians because he was the president of the country. If it’s the case of gifts in monitory form from friends and donors, all this becomes a Government Issue and Malawian issue because when you become a head of state, people come with gifts to you as the president something they couldn’t do when you were just an ordinary citizen. The Chiluba UK judgment could as well be applied in this scenario because Chiluba also become a Billionaire within his ten years of rule in Zambia and the UK judge made it clear as regard to the gifts and other monies that Chiluba received as gifts. The question is where do you draw line when receiving gifts when you are a head of state?
Malawians employed Muluzi to rule for ten years and we have the right to know how he used the money in the country. We need to know exact figures as to how much was in government coffer when he got in and how much donor money government received. Also how much gifts and donations in terms of money did he received because all what he received when he was the president of the country came because he was the head of state otherwise nobody could have given him anything if he was an ordinary citizen. Therefore any money that he came from outside as gifts automatically belongs to government because they were giving it to him as a head of state. Therefore Malawians need to know how much of the foreign money came as gifts from overseas and from Africa and where is this money now? The only money we know is the US 12 million which is about K1.4 billion and nobody seem to know where the other money went. If there is this K1.4 billion Kwacha which came as gifts to Malawi then there should be more that is not counted for.
What about Physical assets? How many houses did Muluzi had before he became president? And how many did he acquire after he become president and how did the process like? Did they all went through a normal process or shot cuts were used?
We could have been having reports on where and how he acquired the extra millions and billions he has. We could have been having quantitive figure to explain his source of income that enabled him to amuse massive chuma like this. We believe that if Kamuzu was questioned and investigated on how he acquired his chuma, Muluzi could not have been left free but that he could have given an audited report on how he administered this country. He is not immune to investigation because he has to explain to the nation that employed him to rule for ten years. He is supposed to show that he is innocent and not be defensive as if he already knows that there are problems as to how he acquired some of the millions he has. Muluzi should know that Kamuzu went through the same process and that he also has to be investigated so that the nation can know how he acquired all the things he has.
Its interesting that injunction was filed so that he should not be questioned or investigated. What is the meaning of all this now? To our view, if Muluzi was a clean man and if he knows that he acquired all his millions and Billions in a clean way, he could not have gone to the courts for injunctions and other things. We believe he could have allowed the whole process go smoothly without any problems. He could have remained a man enough with that piece of mind and with a sober heart. But the frequent courts visit and the many lawyers he puts in place automatically shows that something is wrong somewhere and it creates suspicions in the lives of many. If Kamuzu allowed the rule of law do its work even though he was old and helpless, Muluzi is suppose to freely allow those who would want to investigate him do their job so that he clear his name. How will Malawians trust him again with their money and government??
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