RBM governor, PAC meet fails
The much-awaited meeting between the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament failed to take place on Saturday, further delaying the report the committee is expected to submit to Parliament before it rises.
The committee summoned RBM Governor Charles Chuka to explain how billions of kwacha in government resources have been stolen through dubious cheques cleared by commercial banks and the central bank itself.
New revelations also indicate that a syndicate within government departments managed to siphon money from Account Number One and used the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Local Government, among others, to make dubious payments to companies which had not rendered any services to government.
But one member of Parliament (MP), who opted for anonymity, claimed the cancellation of the meeting was strange because communication only reached them on Friday afternoon when some committee members were ready to travel.
Said the MP: “By Friday morning, the meeting was still on, so who has issued instructions of the cancellation? RBM has all the answers to this looting that has taken place and as a committee, we want to get those answers on behalf of Parliament and Malawians.”
But RBM spokesperson Mbane Ngwira said the governor and other officials were ready to appear before the committee to answer any queries in connection to cash-gate.
Chairperson of the committee, Beatrice Mwangonde, cited “logistical issues” as the reason for the cancellation of the meeting, but added that the meeting will be rescheduled to a date in the course of the week.
“We have some information that the bank would be the right institution to respond to in connection with cash-gate. We are working on recommendations to government and we definitely need to hear from Reserve Bank,” Mwangonde said.
Investigations into the looting at Capital Hill as unravelled by The Nation place RBM at the centre of the issue because individuals cashed government cheques at commercial banks beyond the limit sanctioned by the regulator pointing to collusion between commercial banks and RBM.
