Chizuma undecided on next move
Interdicted Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma is undecided on the next action, her lawyer Martha Kaukonde said on Thursday.
But Chizuma, a lawyer herself, complied with the interdiction order signed and issued by Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba on Wednesday despite Malawi Law Society (MLS) and University of Malawi professor of law Garton Kamchedzera stating that the action was unlawful.
In an interview on Thursday, Kaukonde said her client did not report for work on Thursday in compliance with the interdiction order that followed her alleged misconduct in a leaked audio in January 2022.
On Chizuma’s next step, Kaukonde said: “She is yet to decide on the next step. She is taking it slow at the moment.”
Besides waiting for the whole criminal legal process to roll in, challenging the interdiction order by way of seeking an injunction and resigning are only two ways, unless government decides to reverse the order.
The interdiction order dated January 31 2023 said the anti-graft busting body’s chief was suspended in line with the Malawi Public Service Regulations 42(3) as read with Regulation 42 following the criminal defamation charges she is facing in court. The letter said she will be on full pay.
MLS president Patrick Mpaka said on Wednesday that the SPC’s letter appeared to be “seriously misguided and perhaps issued without jurisdiction” because due to the need for independence of the office of the ACB director general the Corrupt Practices Act (CPA) provides in Section 6(2) and (3) that the power to suspend or remove the ACB chief lies with the President and can only be done where the reason is desirable in the public interest to do so. University of Malawi professor of law Garton Kamchedzera also told on Thursday’s edition of The Nation that the SPC’s action was “an act of desperate, brazen impunity by corrupt networks fighting not only the ACB director general, but the whole idea that this country can fight the rot of corruption”.
