MRA officer under probe over sex-for-work allegations

Police in Lilongwe are investigating a case in which a female police officer working for Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) is alleging that a security officer at the tax institution terminated her contract because she refused to have sex with him.

MRA hires police officers to provide security at its stations such as border posts. The officers work at MRA under contract, but remain employees of Malawi Police Service.

Constable Rose Banda alleges that Cuthbert Msukwa terminated her contract to offer security services at MRA because she refused to bow down to his demands for sex, a charge Msukwa has dismissed.

National Police spokesperson Davie Chingwalu confirmed that police are handling the matter, but could not provide details because he needed to speak to the officers dealing with the matter.

Central Region Police public relations officer John Namalenga also confirmed the issue, but asked for more time to obtain details of the allegations.

“It is true we received that case from MRA, but I need to go back to the people handling the case to get facts,” said Namalenga.

Banda said Msukwa did not provide a convincing reason for terminating her contract.

“I don’t know why he has terminated my contract because there is nothing that I have done other than refusing to sleep with him. I was surprised that one morning he invited me to his office and told me that my contract was terminated.

“I was told to stop reporting for duties indefinitely and two months have passed without hearing anything, not even a formal letter informing me about the termination of the contract,” she said.

Msukwa denied using his influence to sleep with Banda, saying the two were in a relationship when he terminated her contract alongside that of her friend, Sub-Inspector Kitty Makhuluza.

“She is lying because we were already in a love relationship when their contracts were terminated. We felt they could no longer work with us because they were frequently absenting from duty, especially on days when they were not entitled to allowances.

“All officers working with us have days that they work for an allowance and other days that they work for free and usually when it’s a free duty day they were giving us several excuses, so we took the matter to their bosses that we no longer need them,” he said.

But Banda dismissed Msukwa’s assertions, saying she only failed to turn up for duty once because she was not picked to her duty station.

“The contract states that MRA is supposed to provide transport for the officers from their houses to the duty station, but on this day they did not send a vehicle to pick me, so I am surprised that he is pegging my dismissal to this,” she said.

Banda said she joined MRA on contract in August 2011.