As the political and economic situation in Malawi grows worse by day, the Malawi government has embarked on a campaign to draw people’s attention away from its own scandals and failings.
In the past few weeks, the government has thrown around bizarre accusations against leaders of the opposition and has embarked on a campaign to arrest famous names associated with the previous government. It is all a carefully orchestrated process to change newspaper headlines which, for some time now, have all been about corruption of the Tonse leadership.
First, a ridiculous and once discredited allegation against former President Arthur Mutharika and his adviser Heatherwick Ntaba resurfaced. The government accuses the two of sponsoring the killing of an albino person for witchcraft reasons.
The details of the case are just bizarre. They allege that Dr Ntaba walked out of the deceased albino’s autopsy room, with bones (of the deceased) in his briefcase, and then – right there in an adjacent room – started arranging the trading of the bones with the deceased’s murder suspect. Keep in mind that the autopsy was conducted in an environment teaming with lots of people including relatives of the deceased, health professionals, police officers, and media people.
The accusation would be funny if it was not sad. The chief government witness in this case is the same mentally sick person who murdered the albino person. How likely it that a state president and his advisor could have conspired with a mentally disturbed common criminal on such a grave crime? That, a government would believe such a stupid accusation, is a sign of desperation in the closing scenes of the Chakwera administration drama – an administration that would never have existed if the courts had an ounce of credibility in their bones. (The leaked audio tape by the Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau alludes to a coordinated plot by the judiciary to usher in the Tonse government).
A few days ago, the government arrested former SPC Lloyd Muhara and businessman Mulli for another strange reason. The government is basically accusing the two of a crime that does not exist.
Apparently due to economic difficulties of the past few years, including perhaps coronavirus, the businessman had requested some relief on a certain loan until his business’ situation got better. This is a practice lenders and borrowers practice every day all over the world. Why is the government angry with such an innocent arrangement while, at the same time, letting the big corruption-implicated individuals in its own ranks roam around freely?
Remember a few weeks ago when the President claimed that he would withdraw all delegated responsibilities from the Vice President because of the latter’s corruption allegations? Well, now the Vice President is back fully participating in all government activities, being invited to all presidential functions, and performing his most favorite activity – Welcoming the State President!
Ancestors of the Chewa people are said to have proclaimed that, “An archer can never kill a bird with an arrow, if the bird is sitting right on his bow”.
