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MRA contradicts Mphwiyo’s testimony

Was shot in September this year: Mphwiyo
Was shot in September this year: Mphwiyo

Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has contradicted some of the testimony budget director Paul Mphwiyo gave when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday in the ongoing cashgate inquiry.

Among other things, Mphwiyo, who was shot in September this year in Area 43 in connection with the scandal, told PAC that he initiated a letter to MRA advising the authority to consider claiming taxes from some companies that were claiming billions of kwacha from government.

Mphwiyo was outlining the steps he took, in what he claimed, fighting corruption in government, a reason President Joyce Banda claimed led to his shooting.

But a member of PAC confided in Weekend Nation that MRA Commissioner General John Bizwick told the committee that Mphwiyo did not tell the whole truth on the originality of the letter that discussed taxing companies that were claiming billions of kwacha in arrears from government.

The member, who chose not to be mentioned, said Bizwick told the committee that it was actually MRA that wrote the letter to Treasury.

“Bizwick told the committee that the said letter was written by MRA asking government not to give some of the companies’ full amount as they claimed because they were also owing government in taxes,” said the MP.

Another member of PAC corroborated the information, saying: “Mr Bizwick said the MRA started discussing the issues of deducting money from some companies that were making claims from government long time before Mphwiyo was appointed budget director.

“So, it could not have been true that it was Mphwiyo who initiated the letter. Mphwiyo lied to the committee, he lied under oath,” he said.

The source said upon realisation that Mphwiyo lied under oath, the committee has resolved that he must be recalled to account for the statement he made during the first meeting.

“The committee is disappointed that Mphwiyo lied under oath. It was disappointing to note that Mphwiyo tried to make a fool of the committee. We noted that Mphwiyo lied on a number of points and we want him to come back,” said the member.

Another member said the committee was stressed up with the accusations it has received from the public on how it handled Mphwiyo.

“It is more confusing now. As a committee we are only trying to gather as much information as possible on the cashgate issue. We have made the hearing on this matter public so that the public can judge for themselves what officers are saying,” said the source.

Neither Mphwiyo nor Biswick’s phone could be reached yesterday but chairperson of the committee Beatrice Mwangonde refused to divulge details on the matter only saying PAC is compiling information on the cashgate and it is going to present a report in Parliament.

“We are going to make recommendations to government and it is up to the implementing agencies of government to act on the report,” she said.

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6 Comments

  1. Whenever there are correspondences in government offices letters are filed. It is therefore easy to trace which one of the two between Mphwiyo and Biziwiki is lying. Whosoever is not telling the truth must explain why he chose to lie then proper measures should be applied accordingly. People shouldn’t behave like children or handle government business the way they would handle personal estates.

  2. I do swear by the o mighty God,that the evidence i shall give,shall be true,the whole truth,nothing but true……….who will tell the truth then we were waiting for this man,now he is lieng?But do you know that am not yey get my november sarary coz of u?

  3. Just imagine if the whole police is giving a carpet treatment to Mphwiyo, then who is PAC.

  4. PAC stressed out because of public accusations on how it handled Mphwiyo?
    Sounds like the public shouldn’t expect anything better. And if true, that will frustrate the public. So if PAC is stressed out and the public is frustrated, isn’t that a sign of PAC’s incompetence? Shouldn’t some, if not all, members of PAC be replaced?

  5. I was personnally so let down by PAC’s handling of such an opportunity to get at least a headway on the cashgate scam. I believe PAC’s composition lacked a lot to be desired, especially in terms of technicalities. PAC members could not understand what the technical terms Mphwiyo used meant and let follow-up questions to his explanations elope the session. For instance, as an IT person, I picked the explanation that among other causes of the cash-gate, the weakness in the IFMIS’ firewalls makes the system prone to cyber-attacks and that the cyber-attacks may have contributed to the cash-gate! He also alluded to the fact that some of the modules in the IFMIS are not functional. Did anybody in the PAC pick anything from this nonsensical prose? I guess not. What about the media? Did you pick anything out of this trash? Nobody saw the joke this clown was playing on us, Malawians.

    The way to understand modular programming is that a whole complex system is built up of tiny modules that address specific job requirements in the whole system. If a system is deployed, individual modules are let loose one at a time or all at once and the system is supposed to be fully functional within a specified period of time. IFMIS (Intergrated Financial Magement Information System) as it is can never be INTERGRATED if some of the crucial modules are not operational. Why didn’t PAC enquire why some of the modules are not yet functional or when will the system finally roll-out in its completion? If some of the modules are not yet functional (as Mr Mphwiyo explained) does it mean that the whole government financial system is using trial software? – that the whole national budget is being implemented on a system that is on trial? – Because this is the only plausible explanation! Why are the other modules not being implemented? Because they would make the whole system truthful! The system would immediately report the whole truth which no-one is interested in. The loop-holes in the system will disappear and nobody may have a chance to pilfer our taxes using the system for an excuse. The whole system is supposed to be linked: all local town councils, district councils and the capital hill – all these are supposed to be connected. The hardware to enable this and the necessary infrastructure is already in place but deliberately not in use! IFMIS local servers are available at all town council and district council accounts offices. Why procure such expensive hardware and infrastructure and not use it? Because it it were used, there would be no excuses, no loop-holes. That is the only instance that the IFMIS would be prone to cyber-attacks – when the system is fully connected! That’s when, a wanna-be-cyber-attacker would connect to one of the nodes, as a super-user and have access to all the data in the IFMIS system: create fake LPO’s and fake Vouchers. As a cyber-attacker, I would still need an authorisation signature, a cheque and signatories to complete a cash-gate. These signatures and authorisation would have to be done manually by a controlling officer, hence, a cyber-attack of any magnitude can never ever end in a cash-gate!

    I am not a bank IT guy but from the media, I recall that the National bank recently (2009-2010) rolled out a new system for conducting business called the T24. This system replaced the previous system, the BankMaster. The system was fully functional within a month (or so) of change-over. The bank is now running fully on the T24 system. The Malawi Government started their change-over to the IFMIS in 2005 but until now, some of the critical modules have not yet rolled out. Why cant the government hire the competent bank-like IT staff to fully roll-out the IFMIS which their IT staff have failed to implement in (2013-2005) years? If we don’t have the technical know-how to roll-out the IFMIS, why not just hire the developers to help roll-out all the modules at all cost centres?

    I believe nothing tangible is being done because it is to the benefit of all those in positions of authority that the system should not be fully functional. Please refrain from using confusing phrases like IFMIS machine (makina a IFMIS) as there is no such thing! If I were to install IFMIS on my computer, it will equally be an IFMIS machine!

  6. Kodi a PAC akamaliza akupangazo, what next? Don’t u think this is a futile exercise meant to just embarrass people? Were pple dispointed with Pac’s handling of Mphwiyo coshe didn’t implicate JB? Are pple happy nw with Pac cos CCJP implicated JB? What is the use of the investigations currently underway if somedull politicians. Seating as PAC are also doing the same?

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