CCJP demands action on Covid-19 funds abuse

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has demanded action from Parliament and the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) on suspects implicated in the abuse of Covid-19 response funds.

CCJP national coordinator Boniface Chibwana said in an interview yesterday it was worrisome that no action was being taken against the perpetrators despite a number of investigations revealing how government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) abused the funds.

His sentiments come a week after the Office of the Ombudsman released its second report which exposed how personal allowances dominated a majority of expenditure lines for the extra K17 billion Treasury released to finance the Covid-19 National Response Plan at the peak of the pandemic in February 2021.

Speaking when releasing the findings of an investigation on Tuesday in Lilongwe, Ombudsman Grace Malera recommended the establishment of internal audits in all councils within three months as well as forensic audits of all councils and taking administrative actions against all errant controlling officers.

But Chibwana observed that in exercise of the oversight powers over the Executive arm of government, Parliament ought to have already acted upon the Ombudsman’s investigation.

He said: “Parliament should be bold enough to consider the investigation reports and hold all those who deviated from public finance management laws in the implementation of Malawi’s National Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Plan.

“The Office of the President and Cabinet, in a show of genuine political will, is also supposed to enforce the progressive recommendations by the Ombudsman that are in the investigation reports.”

Chibwana said both the OPC and Parliament have “clearly failed to decisively demonstrate that they are serious about ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of emergencies such as Covid-19 by the failure to execute their respective mandates in light of the inquiry reports from the public protector.”

Chibwana said the development was saddening and indicative of government’s abrogation of its duty to protect the public purse in the furtherance of the interests of the citizenry.

Both Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba and Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye did not pick up their phones yesterday when contacted for their reaction.

But in an earlier interview, economic governance expert Milward Tobias said the Ombudsman’s report showed that there was gross abuse of Covid-19 funds aggravated by lack of stringent action against wrongdoers.

The report released on Tuesday is the second investigative report from the Office of the Ombudsman on Covid-19 funds covering the period January to July 2021.

The first focused on March to July 2020 and the National Audit Office also released another report in March 2021 focusing on abuse of K6.2 billion worth of Covid-19 finds.