Chizuma and forces of darkness against her
The guns to shoot Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma out of the graft-busting body are blazing. She may have taken a bullet or two along the way but the larger good in her work will make her prevail over the forces of darkness. Fortunately, President Lazarus Chakwera has been awake to such evil schemes and has, on several occasions, dec lared to the nation he will not fire her.
On May 10 last year, President Chakwera swore not to fire Chizuma saying he still had confidence in her. Further, Chakwera urged all other State prosecuting agencies to work with her in stemming corruption in the country.
Chakwera’s statement came as some concerned citizens a day earlier held demonstrations in Lilongwe to force him to fire Chizuma over a leaked audio. Five months earlier, in January 2022, Chakwera had reprimanded the ACB boss over a discussion she had in the audio with someone who recorded her but has not been held accountable since then. In the audio clip, Chizuma was caught discussing office issues with a third party on matters concerning corruption investigations involving businessperson Zuneth Sattar and his associates.
Reiterating his resolve not to kick Chizuma out of ACB, Chakwera described her as a woman of integrity and courage to rid the country of its worst corruption.
Fast forward: on the dawn of December 6 2022, a gang of police officers arrested Chizuma from her home in the capital, Lilongwe. The police action followed a complaint from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Steven Kayuni on allegations that the ACB chief had injured him in her January leaked audio clip. The President was enraged with the arrest. The Ministers of Home Affairs and Justice claimed they were not aware of who sanctioned the arrest. And so did the Inspector General of Police. So who gave orders for Chizuma’s arrest?
Malawians interested in the fight against corruption in the country were also angry. The country was almost on fire. People had been threatening to turn the country upside down through nationwide demonstrations if Chizuma was not released unconditionally. Against the din of the noise to release her, the President constituted a 12-member commission of inquiry to specifically establish events of public and national interest concerning allegations of improper conduct, abuse of office and illegality surrounding Chizuma’s arrest.
Long short, the Commission of Inquiry found Kayuni was not entitled to bring a personal complaint based on issues pertaining to his office as DPP. It says as the DPP, Kayuni represented the State in the case of review before Justice Mtalimanja and that he was therefore conflicted when he decided to lodge a complaint in his personal capacity to the exclusion of any others whose rights may have been injured by the leaked audio. The report contends that Kayuni demonstrated lack of sound judgement by prioritizing his self-interest over the responsibility of his office in relation to the leaked audio and recommends that appropriate action be taken to deal with his conduct. Kayuni, contends the report, should have recused himself as there was potential conflict of interest.
But the report does not end at rebuking Kayuni. It also rightly takes a swipe at Chizuma contending that there are reasonable grounds to suspect she committed offenses and demonstrated lack of sound judgement in the leaked audio. It further recommends appropriate action to be taken to deal with her conduct in so far as the leaked audio is concerned.
My view is that while the commission was within its mandate to pass its verdict on Chizuma, namely, that there are reasonable grounds that she committed offenses and demonstrated lack of sound judgement in the leaked audio, it went overboard in its recommendation that appropriate action be taken to deal with her conduct regarding the leaked audio. This is because the President already took action on her. He rebuked her for the leaked audio but also declared to the nation he is not firing her over the same issue.
This statement from the President automatically renders inconsequential any effort by the State to prosecute Chizuma. What would be the logic of prosecuting her over something she was already forgiven? After the President made that declaration, the matter about the leaked audio became water under the bridge.
So, whether Chizuma committed offenses or not is neither here nor there. It is too late now for the President to rescind his earlier verdict. Doing so will only confirm claims from his detractors that he is spineless. That he can’t make a decision and stick to it. The larger good is that she is waging war against one of the country’s biggest vices.
The forces of entrapment around Chizuma are well-known. She is fighting against powerful and evil forces which are not comfortable with her at the helm of the graft-busting body. The leaked audio was one of the many such schemes against her.
