Wednesday, December 6, 2023
  • About Us
  • ImagiNATION
  • Rate Card
  • Contact Us
The Nation Online
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home News National News

Malawi widens net on illegal perks

by Staff Writer
21/07/2012
in National News
4 min read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on LinkedinLinkedinShare via Email

Malawi Government has launched investigations into illegal payments made to high ranking public officers over the years. Those found to have pocketed money outside their contracts are being asked to pay back or face prosecution for abuse of office and other charges.

The Ministry of Finance and the Department of Public Service Administration confirmed the move in separate interviews this week, but offered few details.

Among the top officers said to have been found receiving payments outside their drawn contracts so far are former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Perks Ligoya and Lilongwe City Council chief Kelvin M’mangisa who allegedly pocketed K24 million (about $96 000) outside his 36-month contract covering March 2009 and February 2012.

We have also seen communication to the effect that Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) director general Charles Nsaliwa is among the other executives that were paid allowances outside their approved consolidated packages.

But both the Macra board and the secretariat say Nsaliwa’s allowances, although outside the contract, were approved.

Secretary to the Treasury Radson Mwadiwa on Thursday confirmed that Ligoya has been asked to pay back some money.

“His salary was enhanced above what the board had approved and we have since asked him to pay back the difference during the period he got paid [the amount],” said Mwadiwa.

He, however, declined to disclose how much is involved, saying the Department of Public Service Administration may be better placed to provide the figures.

We could not get hold of Ligoya as his phone went unanswered. Our text messages containing our queries were also not responded to.

Ligoya replaced commercial banker Victor Mbewe in September 2009, but President Joyce Banda sacked him in May this year before his five-year term run out. We could not immediately establish when Ligoya started receiving the enhanced package.

On Thursday this week, Principal Secretary for Public Service Administration Sam Madula also declined to reveal the amount of money involved in Ligoya’s case, but confirmed that the former Governor and many other heads of statutory bodies, who received more than what their contracts stipulated, have been asked to return the money.

Meanwhile, documentation we have seen shows that Nsaliwa collected nearly K1 million (about $4 000) in telephone allowance arrears last year despite getting a monthly allowance of K100 000 (about $400) to cater for telephone bills consolidated in his K1.148 million (about $4 592) salary.

The documents also show that on April 8 2011, Macra paid Nsaliwa K959 323.90 (about $3 837) telephone arrears.

Four days later, Nsaliwa collected the cheque and signed for it, according to a company cheque requisition we have reviewed.

The arrears dated from seven months – December 9 2009 to June 30 2010 totalling K700 000 (about $2 800). The other period he was paid for covered eight months from July 1 2010 to February 28 2012. This totalled K1.5 million (about $6 000).

Macra, however, deducted a TNM bill of K129 537 (about $518) and 30 percent tax to arrive at the K959 323.90 that he ended up collecting.

But Ben Chitsonga, Macra director of finance and administration, explained that the Macra board approved that Nsaliwa and other officers who use the phones constantly should be given allowances outside the clean wage.

“We had to seek special approval from the board so that they could allow us to start outside the clean wage. This was for Mr Nsaliwa, director of communications and some drivers,” he said.

But Chitsonga could not say when the board approved the allowances and why they had to pay Nsaliwa in arrears.

Macra board chairperson Ted Nandolo said on Friday: “As a board, we approve a broad framework and the details are up to management, especially the day-to-day implementation of what may be in the contract. In this case, therefore, we may have approved that, but how that was implemented is up to Macra management on whether it was a clean wage or there are mistakes, management has much more to explain and not the board based on what is in the contract.”

The man hunt for illegal perks collectors started with M’mangisa who became the first senior officer to be arrested in connection with the matter after it was discovered that he was getting over K600 000 every month on top of a clean wage of about K627 000.

The money he drew outside his contract amounted to K24 million over 36 months.

M’mangisa got paid outside his contract K100 000 as house allowance, K252 000 in fuel allowance, K100 000 cell phone allowance and K40 000 split between his gardener and cook.

He was arrested on charges of abuse of office and is currently on suspension at the council pending the outcome of his case.

Previous Post

July 20 killings cruel—JB

Next Post

Kusanthula ulamuliro m’masiku 100 a Banda

Related Posts

National News

UAE geared to fulfil Paris Climate Agreement

December 6, 2023
National News

Tanzania, Malawi court AfDB on Songwe dam

December 6, 2023
National News

Escom assures to restore power in Chikwawa

December 6, 2023
Next Post
The Nation Online Kusanthula ulamuliro m’masiku 100 a Banda

Kusanthula ulamuliro m’masiku 100 a Banda

Opinions and Columns

My Turn

Register charities, causes

December 6, 2023
People’s Tribunal

We haven’t learnt lesson on holding protests

December 3, 2023
Musings on Corruption

Beware of social norms, pluralistic ignorance

December 3, 2023
Big Man Wamkulu

He named our kid after girlfriend

December 3, 2023

Trending Stories

  • FIriday was a night of nightmares at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe during the premiere of Is the President Dead? 
Technical glitches, indications of ill preparedness came one after the other during the screening of the movie leaving patrons wondering why the premi-ere was slated for the night. 
As one was taking a seat in the  auditorium, one was  greeted by a screen looking rather too small. The name big screen did not befit this particular ‘screen’.  
The movie was scheduled to start at 6pm, but it started at 8pm. Patrons then stopped grumbling, but their joy was short-lived as at 20 minutes before 9pm the movie went mute and a few minutes later the whole screen went black.  
The patrons protested in unison with a loud ‘aaah!’ By 8.43 pm, the screen came back to life only for it to go black again for five minutes. 
At this moment the MC, Joab Chakhaza came on stage with an apology while the technical team addressed the problem. He called on stage the lead actor Edin Chonde to engage patrons as they waited for screening to resume.  
Chonde shared a brief history of the movie industry in the country.
 His narration started from the time of  To Ndirande Mountain With Love, a movie that was shot when Blantyre’s Ndirande Mountain had trees. 
Chonde talked about other local movie producers such as Charles Shemu Joya and Joyce Mhango Chavula.  
He then started explaining what the movie they were premiering was all about. In his words, Is the President Dead? relates to relatable issues in the coun-try, especially events that happened towards the end of president Bingu wa Mutharika’s reign.  
Chonde was, however, quick to dissociate the movie from the true story of the late president saying: “There could be some similarities here and there, but this is purely a work of fiction.” 
The patrons started booing him as they felt that he was pre-emptying the movie’s storyline. 
Then it was clear that there was a serious technical problem so much that there was high possibility of the movie not being screened. 
The audience got tired of Chonde’s talk and shouted at him to leave the stage. He  obliged and the DJ played some music to fill the gap. 
At 9.06pm, the screen came back to life but the movie did not start from where it stopped. It was also obvious that the movie was played  from an editing programme Adobe Premiere.  
The movie producer Isaac Misoya told The Nation that the copy  had been corrupted; hence,  audio was mute.
“Now, on Adobe Premiere, there were jump cut transitions which presented black screens as the clips were transitioning from one clip to another,” he said. 
There were too many technical glitches and the patrons’ patience ran thin. 
The challenges continued until 11pm when the movie premiere ended unceremoniously as there were no credits at the end of the film.  
Misoya, jumped on stage to apologise to patrons, but he was met with hostility.  
However, he acknowledged that they had worked under pressure because they had set the deadlines of their project too tight.  
He said: “We couldn’t cancel the premiere because the dates were already set. The product which we have shown is not what we arranged to show.”
 Looking through the movie, one can tell that the movie has a good storyline and the project was well planned save for the last part.  
On Saturday, the movie producers released a statement apologising to patrons and promised them  another premiere using the same tickets.
On its part, Film Association of Malawi also released a statement advising the producers to postpone the Blantyre premiere which was scheduled for yes-terday, until all the challenges are sorted.
Patrons left the venue before the movie ended

    Chaos at ‘Is the President Dead’ movie premiere

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Eagles suspect match-fixing

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Mist over airtel top 8 fixture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Panic as Kuhes hikes fees to K1m

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chakwera mulls over Zamba chop calls

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Loading
  • Values
  • Our Philosophy
  • Editorial policy
  • Advertising Policy
  • Code of Conduct
  • Plagiarism disclaimer
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use

© 2023 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Enation
  • Mother’s Fun Run

© 2020 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.