Ibam cries foul over cashgate
The Indigenous Businesses Association of Malawi (Ibam) has cried foul
over the discovery of massive looting of public funds at Capital Hill,
saying the situation is impacting negatively on both small and large
businesses in the country.
Ibam president Mike Mlombwa said in an interview on Friday that his
office continues to receive official complaints on the slowdown of
business by its members countrywide citing cashgate.
He revealed that currently it is becoming difficult for
businesspersons to clear government cheques at most commercial banks
as was the case prior to the revelations of looting public funds at
Capital Hill.
“We have received a lot of complaints from our association members
that to clear a government cheque say in the range K5 million to K9
million, is becoming difficult because there is a lot of suspicion in
most commercial banks since banks have also been blamed for
facilitating cashgate,” said Mlombwa.
Mlombwa also told Business News that even special clearance of cheques
by some of its members is becoming ‘an uphill climb’ in some banks.
The Ibam chairperson also said some of his association members who are
engaged in cross-border trade have also lodged official complaints at
Ibam that even at borders there is more scrutiny on Malawi
businesspersons crossing the borders than was the case before cashgate
revelations.
Mlombwa declined to mention the specific border posts saying the
association would officially communicate to the general public on the
same.
“Ibam would like to believe that there are real culprits on this issue
and we are appealing to government to equally investigate and bring to
book wrong-doers. Otherwise as it is now, this cashgate is slowing
down business among our members,” he lamented.
Last week, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor Charles Chuka
described cashgate as “too serious” warning that the cost of the
scandal could be too heavy on Malawi.
The RBM boss also informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of
Parliament that as it stands now, commercial banks and private sector
cannot get credit lines from external sources.
