DPP warned on K107m Jeffrey’s refund call

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has come under fire for asking its embattled secretary general Grezelder Jeffrey to refund K107 million she allegedly took to pay party monitors during the 2020 fresh presidential election.

Political commentators yesterday questioned the timing of the demand as it comes a few days after Jeffrey defied the DPP leadership and summoned a national governing council (NGC) meeting which set December 15 or 16 as the dates for the party convention. The High Court of Malawi has since put aside implementation of the meeting’s resolutions.

Speaking in separate interviews yesterday, political analyst George Chaima and good governance and social commentator Victor Chipofya described the K107 million refund call as political witch-hunt.

Their comments follow a letter which DPP’s legal affairs director Charles Mhango on Sunday wrote to Jeffrey demanding that she pays back K107 700 000.

In the letter, Mhango said Jeffrey received the money which was meant for party monitors in Nkhotakota, Ntcheu, Dedza and Salima districts during the June 23 2020 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election.

Reads the letter in part: “I have been informed that you were entrusted with the responsibility of paying the monitors but after you collected the said sum of K107 700 000 from the party, you never paid the monitors and instead you converted the said sum to your personal use.”

Mhango further claims that efforts by the party to recover the funds have been futile, saying Jeffrey has been abusing her position as secretary general to evade accountability for the funds.

He demands that Jeffrey pays back the money to the party in the next three days from December 10 2023, failing which the DPP will commence legal action to retrieve the funds.

But Chaima faulted the timing of the demand, saying it is a witch-hunt as the party has taken over three years before demanding transparency and accountability for the funds.

He said: “Transparency and accountability is not something that can be denied but the timing is wrong. Why has it taken the DPP three years to ask for the refund?”

Chipofya, on the other hand, said the DPP should have asked Jeffrey to give a detailed report on how the funds were used after the 2020 election.

“The party was also supposed to declare its source of financing before coming with accusations about misappropriation,” he said.

Chipofya cautioned the party’s financing methods, saying the DPP is a public entity and must be the first to be accountable to its members.

DPP treasurer general Jappie Mhango yesterday refused to clarify on the source of the K107 million and how Jeffrey accessed it.

He said Charles Mhango was better-placed to comment on the matter.

 “I insist that you speak with the director of legal affairs, who has the details about that,” said Jappie Mhango.

But Charles Mhango could not respond to our questionnaire, saying he was in court.

Jeffrey could also not be reached for comment through her known mobile phone number despite several attempts.

However, Charles Mhango’s communication showed a handwritten note as evidence that the money was given to Jeffrey.

Jeffrey alongside Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa and others have been at loggerheads with Mutharika after Jeffrey stated in August 2020 that Mutharika needed to leave and pave the way for new blood. She was expelled from the party alongside four others, before a court ruling reinstated them in 2022.