Pay back parastatal money, DPP told

Mzuzu-based Youth and Society (YAS) has asked the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to pay back within 14 days all the money parastatals and other  government agencies gave it during its fundraising event called Blue Night last Saturday in Lilongwe.

In a statement signed by its executive director Charles Kajoloweka, YAS describes government’s move as irrational abuse of resources and warns of unspecified consequences if the money is not given back.

But DPP has since rebuffed the calls, saying parastatals and councils that made pledges or paid the money did so willingly and the party will not pay back.

In the statement, Kajoloweka says the “abuse of resources” follows a spate of abuse and corruption scandals that have rocked parastatal institutions.

“A fresh case in point is the siphoning of K10 million from Lilongwe Water Board by the DPP in February 2016 through a similar ‘Blue Night’ scheme. It is also not long ago when the First Lady Getrude Mutharika invaded the National Aids Commission [NAC] and siphoned K5 million for her private activities.

“In view of this ‘Blue Night’ incursion on the public purse, we, therefore, make the following demands: That the Democratic Progressive Party must within 14 days [by 15th August] pay back the money to all parastatal institutions which were siphoned in the name of ‘Blue Night’ fundraising dinner,” reads the statement in part.

The youthful activist, who made headlines by leading a group of civil society organisations to drag former Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda to court over the dubious Zambia maize import deal, also urged institutions that are yet to pay the money to cancel the transactions.

Reads the statement: “All parastatal institutions that committed or intend to siphon public finances to the DPP through the said ‘Blue Night’ scheme should stop the transactions forthwith or face consequences and that in the principle of transparency, the DPP should publicly declare names of public institutions and amounts of money/pledges received from such institutions.”

Meanwhile, chairperson for the last Saturday’s fundraising event, Hetherwick Ntaba, has rubbished the calls, arguing institutions were not forced to pay the money.

“Mr Kajoloweka is entitled to his opinion on this, and many other people, including myself, have a different opinion altogether on this matter.

“The institutions that gave out the money did that willingly, voluntarily, nobody forced them and they haven’t come back to us to demand back their money. So, there is no need to pay back that money,” said Ntaba.

Mzuzu City Council, which fails to carry out some of its activities due to lack of funds, has come under fire for pledging to bankroll the ruling party.