Anti Corruption Bureau director, Martha Chizuma, has now finally conceded that she presented a half-baked report to President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera in June this year which led to the suspension of State House Chief of Staff, Prince Kapondamgaga, the firing of former Inspector General of Police George Kainja and the withdrawal of delegated powers to Vice President Saulos Chilima.
Over the weekend Chizuma told Malawi News that she is under siege to deliver from what she promised in the report. And a day later the ACB chief delegated the bureau’s spokesperson, Egrita Ndala, to Zodiak Broadcasting Station where she discredited the report saying it was never meant to get anyone punished.
“We presented the report to the President because he asked for it. We could not go and arrest people because investigations are continuing,” Ndala told ZBS.
Her response on behalf of the bureau vindicates the doubts Malawians have had on Chizuma’s competence. All along she has given a picture as if ACB is ready to pounce on the some or all the 84 people mentioned in the report they presented to the Head of State.
One major doubt about ACB’s efficiency came from the President himself when he addressed the nation on June 21.
On that day he openly rebuked ACB for presenting to him what looked like a half-baked report.
“But I must say that while I remain confident that the Bureau is critical to this fight (against corruption), because of the glaring information gaps in its report, including the absence of any information about what the Bureau’s plan of action is, I consider the report to be an example of substandard work. And on a matter as serious and sensitive as this, Malawians deserve better,” said the President.
By openly conceding that they are still carrying out investigations on the matter the painted as concluded, the ACB has shot themselves in the foot.
They misled the President and the nation on top of victimizing people who are innocent until proven guilty.
The nation now awaits with heightened anticipation to see what the President will do to Chizuma upon his return from the US trip on Tuesday.
It looks likely that the ACB chief who came on stage with so much hype is now on her way out.