Malawi forms ministerial committee on cashgate

Malawi Government has formed a ministerial committee to monitor progress on all issues surrounding the plunder of public funds in what has been christened the Capital Hill cashgate.

Minister of Information and Civic Education Brown Mpinganjira and Minister of Finance Maxwell Mkwezalamba announced the development during a press conference they jointly addressed in Lilongwe yesterday.

They said besides the committee, government has also developed an action plan to address weaknesses in the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (Ifmis), the electronic payment platform used by government since 2005.

Said Mpinganjira: “Since October, we have been implementing an action plan which was agreed with all development partners, including the [International Monetary Fund].

“The IMF has in its recent statement issued at the end of its mission to Malawi referred to the government action plan as one of the vehicles to initiate the process of normalising relations between government and its development partners.”

He said the ministerial committee will be closely working with donors to enhance transparency and that the donors have already been invited to participate in the committee meetings.

Added Mpinganjira: “The committee is supported by a committee of senior officials which is chaired by the Chief Secretary to Government with the support of the Secretary to the Treasury and will be meeting everyWednesday to review the action plan. The committee had its first meeting on November 20 2013.”

On his part, Mkwezalamba said after every meeting government will be briefing the nation through the media on progress made to strengthen the systems as well as in the prosecution of suspects.

According to Mkwezalamba, government has lined up over 60 measures that will be implemented in the short to long-term to address both the issues concerning recent cases of theft and

fraud in the government.