A thief-in-law can capture the State

December 8 2022

Speaking on Friday last week ahead of the Anti-Corruption Day, which falls on December 9, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma hinted that efforts to prosecute high-profile corruption cases involving huge amounts of money or politically-exposed persons are frustrated by hurdles such as preliminary orders. She cited the case in which Vice-President Saulos Chilima is accused of corruption where the now suspended Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steve Kayuni barred the ACB lead lawyer Mordecai Msisha, a thing Chizuma observed would lead to slow movement, as is the situation in other cases involving businesspersons Karim Batawalala, Zameer Karim, former Police inspector general George Kainja, among others.

It is for fact that Chizuma and Kayuni appear to be in a tug-of-war over who should call the shots, instead of working together as partners with other arms dealing with illicit financial deals like the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Malawi Revenue Authority and even the Malawi Police Service. From the word go, the two have been incompatible.

Little did we know that Tuesday morning, we would wake up to the news that police raided Chizuma’s house in Lilongwe at around 4am. Then, the pictures went viral, showing the ACB director general in pyjamas. She appeared traumatised. Her feet, as she sat on a chair outside Namitete Police Station (which is becoming more of Malawi’s Guantanamo Bay), are bare. Then, the police publicists tell us her arrest emanates from a complaint from Kayuni himself over a phone call Chizuma purportedly made to a ‘friend’ implicating Kayuni in stalling of some of the high-profile corruption cases.

Chizuma’s pictures in night wear don’t sink well for they come right at a time we are commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence. In fact, arresting the corruption-buster came at a wrong time, a few days before commemorating the Anti-Corruption Day.

The complication became even more complicated, as President Lazarus Chakwera who is Commander-in-Chief of the Malawi armed forces was not aware of Chizuma’s arrest! Come to think of it, if this is not treason, what is? Chizuma was appointed by the President and she took oath of office in his presence. Who could issue an order to arrest her without His Excellency knowing? For that matter, Chizuma was supposed to meet the President at 11am!

Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo, who was equally in the dark about the arrest, told the National Assembly Chizuma had been released unconditionally. While letting that sink, it transpired that a Lilongwe court had granted Chizuma bail. Who misinformed Mvalo?

The confusion is at the highest order as it turns out that charges against Chizuma could not be withdrawn by no other person than the DPP. Then, we learn that Kayuni who had lodged the complaint had withdrawn the case in his personal capacity.

Now, this is not a fictitious thriller. The million dollar question is: Who is really in control of matters of State?

You can’t be wrong to think there is a government within the Government. Where the Information Minister gets matters of national importance involving a high-profile personality from the media, you only know 1+1=11. And where the Minister, Gospel Kazako, tells you the Government is surprised why the ‘government’ has arrested Chizuma, you have all the right to assume the State has been captured.

A State is captured where private interests influence the State’s own decision-making processes to their advantage. It is clear that somebody or some people are fiddling with the remote control for their regulatory capture to work.

The saga really smacks of the State capture in South Africa under Jacob Zuma. The infamous Gupta brothers tried to convince the African National Congress member of Parliament Vytjie Mentor to move that the South African Airways drop their route to India, which would be taken up by Jet Airways, a flight connected to the Gupta family. In return, she was told she would be given the Minister of Public Entreprise portfolio. Apparently, while the Guptas were making the offer, Zuma was in the next room.

Deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas was also offered a full cabinet position by the Guptas.

That is the danger with a state that is captured. Even cabinet positions are influenced by hands unknown to the rest of the world. It is for a fact that it is these same unknown hands that can push the system as who to arrest for corruption, theft and fraud and who not to touch, the sacred cows.

One thing that remains clear is that, for all this crookery to come to fruit, you need a ‘thief-in-law’. It is clear we have one or more thief-in-laws in Malawi, and they are going nowhere soon.

Malawians need not to fret, though, since Chakwera will probably find solutions to the puzzle in the United States of America where he is expected to attend a summit for African leaders next week.   n