By Mubanga Mubanga
Former Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) board chairman Musa Mwenya says he is surprised that President Hakainde Hichilema decided to punish the whistleblower instead of going for the wrongdoers.
Speaking during the Oxygen Democracy Programmme, on Prime TV, on Monday, Mwenya when asked by the program presenter Alexander Musokotwane, if he was disappointed by the decision taken by the president to fire the ACC board, responded that he was “baffled” because he expected the president to take action against those who committed errors, as opposed to those he had appointed in the board.
“So we were baffled as you were (Musokotwane) as to the reasons. Well not really, l was not disappointed, because I went there to serve, it was not the job l was seeking. But the way the events unfolded left a bitter taste in my mouth that is the least I can say,” Mwenye said. “l perhaps expected that those who were being accused of one or two things should have been dealt with not the board, from which the information came from with regard to those errant people. But what happened was the whistleblowers were punished and some other people were left in their positions. So it baffles me but l am not disappointed.”
Mwenye said the board in the last two months engaged with those in charge of making decisions in the country on how to handle matters, but they did not receive any positive feedback.
“And in the last two months we communicated with those that could make a decisions and we were waiting for that decision to be made. Well I don’t have any written response myself. There was no written response. At least in the last two months that we effectively communicated and indicated the shortcomings and the problems we were facing internally we were not responded to,“ Mwenye said.
Asked why he did not resign after seeing that there was bad blood between him and the management, including the appointing authority, Mwenye said he did not resign because he was a patriot.
“Look, l am a patriot. Patriots don’t go ahead and run at the slightest sign of an internal struggle in an organisation. Sometimes it is better to fight from within and you don’t run at the first instance. You engage in communications, you engage in internal mechanisms to resolve that issue, and then you escalate the issue. So we did that as the board, we went to a different stage,” Mwenye said.
Mwenye further said the board was locked away from what was happening at ACC, saying there was a disconnect between the board and the immediate past director general Thom Shamakamba, which never before Gilbert Phiri was promoted to become Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
“There was cross pollinations of ideas, and the board guided and helped to do certain things. And there was constant interactions between the board and management. When the new head, the new CEO of the commission came, data abruptly stopped. As l said in other foras the board was locked out for a year or so, no consultations,” he said. “Apart from the normal administrative issues, but in terms of operational investigations and prosecution we were simply not briefed at all.”
Mwenye said there is need to change the system where the President appointed the board and the director general.
He said the fight against corruption could only be seen to be serious if past and current leaders were both investigated.
“What we saw was cases of current corruption were not moving. One would have even thought, and l am sure even you (Musokotwane) that there were no cases at all, because of the relative silence. But recently, ACC has confirmed that there are ministers being investigated. That was our concern! And we … l basically communicated that concern. The clearest sign of a vibrant fight against corruption is how people who are currently powerful are dealt with. That is very important,” Mwenye said.
Mwenye further called for strengthening the law on the declaration of assets.
“ln this country we don’t have a law to compel permanent secretaries or procurement officials to declare their assets. We need to change that, we can’t fight corruption without a serious movement towards such kinds of things (declaration of assets). And these things can be done, our brothers in Malawi have passed such Laws, the Kenyans have passed such laws,” said Mwenye.
