Manganya in Cashgate film
Comedian Michael Usi, alias Manganya, has embarked on Cashgate episode of the Tikuferanji soap which features High Court judge Mike Tembo and lawyers Andrew Salamba and Fostino Maele.
The episode, to be screened early next year, lends on the services of another High Court Judge Sylvester Kalembera to guide actors on court proceedings.
The setting of the episode is the High Court registry in Blantyre which is sitting over a grand corruption case in which Manganya is accused of embezzling public funds amounting to K1 billion (about $1.5million).
The Nation witnessed the shooting of the episode at the High Court on Monday morning.
According to the charge sheet, Manganya is answering charges of corruption by a public officer, which is contrary to Section 24 (1) of the Corrupt Practices Act (Cap 7:04).
The plot alleges that Manganya on or about the 20th of January 2015, being the owner of Manganya Construction Company, corruptly gave Mr Phuma K200 000 (about $309) as an inducement for the award of a tender for the construction of a hospital.
It total, Manganya through his company, received three government cheques totalling K1 billion meant of the construction of Moyo Wabwino Hospital. However, a site visit to where the hospital was designed to be built revealed that no work had been done.
Instead, the site is full of bluegum trees which have never been cleared at all. As a consequence, poor people from this area are dying of curable diseases because the next health facility is just too far.
During the initial session of the shoot at the High Court in Blantyre, Usi described the Cashgate episode as a reflection of what is and what has been happening in the country.
Usi said: “Yes, I have dramatised a high profile case of corruption, but this is the order of the day in Malawi. Poor people are dying of hunger, poverty and diseases simply because few individuals are involved in corruption, embezzling public funds that are meant for development. This is a shame.”
According to Usi, poor Malawians were being taken for granted as far the management of public funds and resources were concerned; hence, the need for taxpayers to know what happens when cases of corruption are taken to court.
He said: “Malawians have been asking why corruption cases take long at the courts. So, this episode strives to take them through a complete Cashgate trial.”
Usi added that the episode is a shift from usual Tikuferanji plot in the sense that the subject matter is purely centred on one complex issue so as to give people a better understanding of Cashgate.
