From the gusto and bravado with which South African author i t i es have been pursuing Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, to be extradited to the rainbow nation, I have a gut feeling the couple will not be safe there. I get the feeling if it were the same rape, fraud and forgery charges, they want the founder of the Enlightened Christain Gathering (ECG), the Bushiris would not even have thought of escaping from that country to Malawi in November, 2020. From the manner the law enforcers were treating him while in that country, Bushiri himself has said his life and that of his wife were not safe. Which is what prompted their escape.
But the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court ruling on March 12, sent the Bushiris back to the lions’ den. The couple’s fate—about whether or not to be extradited—now lies in the hands of the High Court to which the couple will appeal the lower court’s ruling. And most obviously, should the High Court uphold the lower court’s ruling, I can put my hand on my chest and say that there will be another appeal to the apex court. The fact of the matter is that the Bushiris are fighting for their dear lives and not just against conviction. Who does not fight until their last breath for dear life?
In the High Court, the Bushiris will need trust in God like that of the Biblical Daniel for Him to send an angel to shut the mouths of the hungry lions in the den and ensure the couple is unharmed.
The Bushiris’ case should teach us that for Malawians, this country—their country and home—is afterall not the safest place to be when faced with a calamity. We are a country of contradictions.
Most certainly it it is the reason one Peter Mulamba, former deputy genera l manager for the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (and most recently Paul Mphwiyo) fled the country in September 2004 when the Ant i – Corruption Bureau (ACB) intensified invetsigations of the corruption scam which implicated several senior off ic ials in the United Democrat i c Front – l ed administration. Mulamba was regarded as a key State witness in the infamous K2.9 billion maize scam. Later, the Director of Public Prosecutions Ishmael Wadi cleared him of wrong doing. But over 20 years later, Mulamba remains a ‘fugitive’ in an unknown country. He knows something.
Mphwi yo, a former Ministry of Finance budget director and alleged cashgate kinpin, who jumped bail, remains a fugit ive. He, together with other cashgate suspec t s is accused of defrauding government of K2.4 billion in 2013 and was reported missing by his wife Thandizo on June 26 2023. He vanished just as the High Court was about to deliver its ruling on money laundering and Cashgate related charges the State was pursuing against him. He also knows something.
Tr uth be tol d, both Mulamba and Mphwiyo ostens ibl y a ss i s ted by government authorities, sought sanctuary in foreign land. They were running away from ‘sins’ best known to themselves.
Conversely, here are the Bushiris, who have stolen not a single kwacha from their government’s coffers, but instead they have done so much for Malawi through their charity work which everyone can vouch for. Additionally, through the ECG’s Crossover Night New Year Eve services, they have also been bringing hundreds of tourists into the country raking in millions of the scarce dollars annually for several years. But when they are hounded by a foreign government and then they escape to their ‘mother’ Malawi, their government has no mercy on them and throws them back into the mouth of the hungry lion. What a travesty of justice.
You steal from government, then government authorities help you to flee from the wrath of the law. You help government then it sends you to the gallows! This is lopsided justice. Fellow Malawians, let us be more patriotic. I would want to see South African authorities extraditing to Malawi a fellow South African national suspected to have committed a crime in this country. It doesn’t happen. It has never happened. The Bushiris should remain in this country until Jesus comes again.
snhlane@mwnation.com; Cell: 0888833906
