Malawi Defence Force (MDF) is under investigations over some contracts with UK-based businessperson Zuneth Sattar. This is not the first the military is embroiled in corruption allegations.  Some of the former senior officers in the military are answering corruption charges relating to Cashgate. Is the military a fertile ground for corruption? Our A Lilongwe Assistant Bureau Chief SUZGO CHITETE  speaks to MDF Commander General Vincent Nundwe.  Excerpts:

Nundwe: Sattar tried to blackmail me

Q

:There seems to be a lot of secrecy surrounding MDF procurements, mostly involving single-sourcing and restrictive tendering in the name of national security. Some say the security card provides room for abuse of resources. What do you say?

A

:It is an international practice that you really do not publicly advertise for supply of sensitive materials such as ammunitions, rifles and other equipment, but you must do due diligence. You must go to a number of manufacturers and suppliers with your technicians so that there is value for money. After this, you follow the procurement procedure: go to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) for approval. Usually, we use single-sourcing.

Q

:If indeed there is due diligence, how come MDF has become a subject of the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s investigations, including Cashgate in 2013?

A

:You must understand that MDF, just like any other institution, has got people and there are some personalities who are hooked to corruption. You really cannot know the mind of every character in the institution. We trust that people will be honest and conduct themselves professionally. This is why we have audits. The aim is to arrest wrongdoing.

Q

:You have told us that the water cannon, for example, which cost taxpayers billions of kwacha, was not a priority, meaning you do not need it. How then was it procured?

A

:  That can be answered by those who made this decision. Maybe politicians were behind it. I was not in office by the time this decision was made. This happened when I was out of office. When I came back, I queried why government bought us the water cannons to defend a country? Those are the things I queried.

Q

:If MDF does not need the water cannon, then who made the decision?

A

: I cannot answer that because when I left office on March 17 2020, I presented the MDF budget to Treasury and there was no any contract with firms connected to Sattar. But when I came back, I found that in our budget, we had contracts with Sattar-linked firms. I think my predecessor can handle those questions better.

Q

:We have also noticed that the procurements related to firms linked to Sattar had an aggregated value almost equal to what is annually allocated to MDF. How is this possible?

A

: The contract signed related to Sattar is the food rations, which was $7 million, riot equipment which was about $28 million plus $10 million for a water cannon. For all these, no payment was made.

Q

: But these were contracts which were duly approved. Assuming there was no stop order, where would the money come from?

A

: I resisted. I did not pay this money and this money was given back to Treasury. The only money paid was for food rations, which actually happened before I came in. The rest was not paid. In fact, Treasury used the same money to settle debts for the construction works we did on some roads. Part of the funds were also used to rehabilitate and construct 165 houses damaged during Cyclone Idai in Zomba. This was the money that was supposed to be paid to Sattar, but we asked Treasury if we could use it for this exercise. I personally resisted and Sattar tried to blackmail me, but I resisted and that is all.

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