Tukula slams assets declarations door
Public officers who failed to declare their assets by close of business yesterday must start mulling over their future after director of Public Officers’ Declarations, Chris Tukula, stressed there will be no grace period for the exercise.
Tukula had earlier warned the listed officers required to declare their assets to adhere to the December 31 2014 deadline, which was yesterday, or face penalties which include dismissals.
Over the last few days, Tukula’s offices in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu have been overwhelmed with queues of all categories of officers trying to beat the cut-off date.
Speaking in an exclusive interview yesterday, Tukula declared that the door had been shut for officers who did not submit their declarations because there was no request to have the deadline extended.
He said: “There will be no extension because we have not received any formal request. What we have received instead are just requests from individual offices or institutions who had logistical challenges in the delivery of the declarations for some of their officers due to the on-going vacation for the civil service.”
Tukula said some institutions requested for special assistance due to the short time available and his office had to enter into tailor-made arrangements with them.
Asked whether the 18 Cabinet ministers, 193 Members of Parliament (MPs) and 96 principal secretaries have all made their submissions, Tukula said he could not immediately confirm.
Tukula also said declarations of President Peter Mutharika and Vice-President Saulos Chilima were handed over to his office after they were deposited to the Speaker of National Assembly.
He described the exercise as a daunting task whose biggest challenge was people’s perception that the process was a witch-hunt exercise or a tool that may form the basis for political or personal persecution.
Under the Act, Tukula said, his office’s role will be to report to Parliament, the Ministry of Justice and to all controlling officers on who complied and who did not.
Those who failed to comply without a good cause may be dismissed if proven guilty by their employers or may face criminal prosecution with a penalty of K500 000 fine or two years imprisonment.
Political and elected officials may lose their positions and may be disqualified from running for political office again for seven years, according to the Act. n
This is a mockery of the whole exercise. How can any one claim not to have enough time? Did they not have enough notice? This exercise was extended to begin with. We want to know and all those that did not declare their assets dismissed. We would also like to see all the assets declared made public. No sacred cows. Time is up and Malawians must know where and how these public servants are amassing their wealth.