Mwalwanda clears his name in MRA saga

Former deputy minister of Finance and Development Planning Dr Cornelius Mwalwanda on Tuesday cleared his name in the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) saga.

In a statement made available to The Nation, Mwalwanda, who was Lipenga’s deputy in the Cabinet of former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika, said repeated insinuations had been made in the media that he may have known that MRA borrowed money from commercial banks to spruce up government revenues.

While admitting that he attended a technical meeting between the Ministry of Finance and MRA held on October 11 2011 at the Ministry of Finance offices in Lilongwe, he said the issue of MRA borrowing from commercial banks was never discussed.

Mwalwanda said at that meeting, which he chaired, MRA officials informed his team that part of the reasons for the underperformance in revenue collection was due to delays in putting into effect certain revenue measures that had been introduced.

He said he communicated in writing to his boss, Finance Minister Dr Ken Lipenga, about the outcome of the meeting.

The statement reads: “As a human being, I must admit I have shortfalls, but involvement in the MRA saga is not one of them, because I was not involved. I do not want to be a sacrificial lamb that the nation wants on this matter.

“Nonetheless, the fact that these events took place under my watch, and that of Hon. Dr. Ken Lipenga, at the Ministry of Finance, we need to admit we were let down by our officials and that we should have done a better job of managing the ministry.”

Lipenga was cleared by a Special Cabinet Committee that was appointed by President Joyce Banda to investigate him.

But some quarters, including human rights activists, argue that the committee was compromised because it included Lipenga’s cabinet colleagues.