Deputy IG irks PAC on cashgate probe
Malawi Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Nelson Bophani on Wednesday angered the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament whose members felt he did not clearly answer their questions on the Capital Hill cashgate.
Bophani, who is chairperson of the special investigation committee on the looting of public funds at Capital Hill, was summoned to give PAC an update on investigations into the matter.
Mainly the committee wanted to know if the police are linking Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo to the cashgate and whether they interviewed him on the matter when they met him in South Africa.
Asked PAC member Henry Mussa: “What is the link between Mphwiyo’s shooting and the cashgate scandal at Capital Hill?”
In response, Bophani said: “This is a matter which will be tackled in court. But Mphwiyo is a primary witness in a shooting crime. Conclusively, [Mphwiyo] can be anything at any time, but in our records he is a witness.”
On whether the police interviewed Mphwiyo on cashgate issues, Bophani said the police’s focus was on Mphwiyo as a witness of a crime and that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) interviewed him on other matters.
However, his response did not go down well with the Members of Parliament (MPs) who asked further questions, including why Bophani arrived together with Mphwiyo at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) on his arrival from South Africa where Mphwiyo underwent surgery after his shooting on September 13 this year at the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe.
Apparently not convinced with Bophani’s responses, another PAC member, Clement Chiwaya, said: “Don’t play tricks with us Deputy Inspector General. Please, address the questions. You should know that the public is counting on you to tell us the truth.”
But Bophani responded, saying: “I said I did not go to South Africa to bring Mphwiyo [back home]. I just met him at the airport and we were on the same plane. A DIG [Deputy Inspector General] cannot escort a person whether criminal or not.”
The committee members also looked unsatisfied with Bophani’s responses to queries about businessperson Oswald Lutepo’s whereabouts before he turned himself in.
“For a while, I really believed that Lutepo was outside the country, but we are further investigating the matter. Once we conclude our investigations, we will share everything with the public,” said Bophani.
However, the committee wondered why it is taking long for police to find out whether Lutepo was within the country before he handed himself over, arguing police could easily get details of Lutepo’s movements from the Immigration Department.
“We are wondering why it is taking time to investigate the matter when it is only a matter of verifying with passports since a warrant of arrest was already issued. Do you mean the Immigration Department failed us or he is somebody who can just move in and out anyhow?” asked another member, Nicholas Dausi.
Other questions which the committee members felt were not clearly addressed include those related to names of other members of the police investigation committee, whether police knows the motive behind Mphwiyo’s shooting and alleged VIP treatment for Lutepo when he was in custody.
Anatumidwa ndi a mai kukamuuza zochita Mphwiyo,poti nkhani ya ku cash gate bakerly mosabisa mau ikumukhuza joice,ndipo mmalawi ozavotera chakuba,chigawenga,ichi izo ndi zanu.
This is laughable for a mere police man to take to task an office/committee that was instituted by parliament. Does it mean that bophani, or whatever his name is, he is bigger and influential than the government machinery put in place to establish and tailor legal related issues on behalf of Malawians? This plonker is just a civil servant who can be hired/fired depending on delivery of the envisaged responsibilities. He must be mindful that before him there were well placed individuals in that very same office he is messing up in order to please politicians, but those people left after their time elapsed. Why should he behave like he is not a qualified cop, or he isn’t? Bophani can not be bigger than all Malawians put together, never. In fact the salary plus kick-backs he is pocketing is a contribution of our taxes. The watch dogs in malawi have no meaning at all, instead of calling them watch dogs they should be called a collection of dogs-house. We had hkb as the president who didn’t take a mere yes as an answer but definitely he was not behaving stubbornly like this mad, satanic woman who doesn’t even want to listen from her own husband. Malawians have yourselves sorted out for posterity’s sake.
Something is not adding up Mr Bophani. The cash-gate has contributed significantly to the poor public service delivery we are experiencing and to have somebody like Bophani failing to show seriousness in handling this case is a shame. Parliament needs to start thinking of finding ways to remove some of these officers. Mindful of the fact that Gvt is failing to implement some of the resolutions agreed by parliament, as a nation we also need to start brainstorming on how to peaceful allow the current govt to relinguish power as they seem to be failing us.
these people are not going to tell us anything since its a syndicate which we need to find a head and cut it off
In a first place why is PAC probing these people? There are already institutions responsible for this, PAC member are there just for allowances. Believe you me its just a waste of money, unless one convinces me on the objectives of the process PAC is doing. To me they will simply write a report which nobody will use because its useless. For the appearance of DIG to before PAC is not the same as RB Governor or AG. I see to it as problem because PAC is comprised of politicians and the DIG had to be sensitive. If Chiwaya can not see that then he is useless aswell, the DIG position is not endorsed by parliament and you know what that means. The answers we have been hearing when PAC meet these people are the same ones speculated in the Media.