Renowned and fierce human rights activitist Undule Mwakasungula has accused office of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma for lacking strategic direction when conducting her business of dealing with corruption.
Speaking during the Sunday Tiuzeni Zoona program on Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS), Undule says it looks like Chizuma does not even know what she want to achieve.
He gave an example of the report submitted to President Lazarus Chakwera which the Head of State described as substandard.
“She mentioned names of prominent people including the Chief of staff. These people were mentioned yes but what next? These people were supposed to be summoned and defend themselves before the court of law but up to now these people havent been questioned. These people can sue Government,” he said.
National Elections System Trust NEST and the Pan African Civic Educators Network recently called for the exit of Chizuma giving her 72 hours to resign or be relieved of her duties by those who have jurisdiction over her office.
In a statement released on 12 September by NEST Executive Director Unandi Banda and Olive Mpina from PACE-NET, the two organisation were called for Chizuma’s resignation for gross incompetence since she assumed office in February 2021.
The two organisations noted that despite commitment from government and other stakeholders to support the bureau with financial and human resources there has been minimal or no progress in the fight against corruption on many fronts.
“A good 18 months now, the Director General has failed to galvanise the capacity of the ACB to make it achieve its intended targets in the fight against corruption.
“The nation is well aware of a series of administrative and legal blunders encountered by the bureau over the past year and a half some of which include sharing of sensitive and operational information to people not privileged by law to access the same and failure to work in coordination with other state agencies in fighting corruption,” reads the statement from the two organisations.
NEST and PACE-NET added that lack of strategy in fighting corruption and failing to secure information were the major concerns.
“What Malawians see or hear are either threats to arrest people or arrests that yield nothing tangible in the immediate. The ACB continues to arrest people wantonly only to go silent for months after the accused get bail.
“Recently, emerged reports that files went missing in an ongoing investigation concerning UTM’s 44 cars that are alleged to have been purchased corruptly,” read the statement.
The statement added that Malawians are worried because ACB is one institution whose core functions are soliciting and securing of information for efficient operations.
“Having sensitive files missing from this place which we believe have proper security systems raises questions over the credibility of leadership at that particular institution,” added the statement.
