President Lazarus Chakwera has failed to live up to his word to fire the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) board over alleged abuse of public funds a year after he promised to do so.

Last week, Weekend Nation established that the President has neither acted on his promise to fire the board nor explained why he rescinded his decision, a development some said was institutionalising impunity and plunder of public resources.

Presidential Press Secretary Anthony Kasunda on Tuesday said State House needed more time to give an explanation on the matter.

Has failed to live to his word: Chakwera

While Macra board seems to have been spared for reasons not publicly explained, the Chakwera’s administration swiftly dissolved boards of other parastatals such as Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), Roads Authority (RA) and National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) again for reasons the administration has not made public.

Governance expert Mavuto Bamusi observed that Chakwera’s legacy of empty statements, barren warnings and unfulfilled promises meant patronage politics was now a reality in his administration as he was busy protecting and rewarding individuals based on their loyalty to the administration.

“The President is creating a serious accountability and developmental crisis for himself and is digging a pit for his administration. His failure to act on the issue implies that he agrees to the Dubai trip and expenditure, and further translates into the formalisation of plunder and abuse of public funds,” said Bamusi.

Another political and governance expert Victor Chipofya Junior said Chakwera’s indecisiveness on the matter was not inspiring, and did not bring confidence to Malawians that he was ready to deal away with malpractices in the manner government agencies conduct their business.

He said the President’s outburst needed to be followed with action to set as a warning to would-be abusers of public funds.

Macra Board chairperson Stanley Khaila said in an interview that after the President’s statement, they changed their approach of holding the trainings saying they no longer conduct them outside the country.

But former Macra board chair Reverend Alex Maulana, commenting on the issue, said Chakwera might have rushed with his outbursts before getting his facts correct.

He said all along Macra boards have been having board and management trainings abroad because the authority’s line of duty is mainly international.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises Isaac Kaneka, which looks at governance issues in parastatals, said the issue was beyond the committee’s mandate because it was already being handled by the President.

He said: “The fact that the issue is already up there, we will also just have to wait and see.”

Chakwera said he would change leadership of the Macra board after the parastatal held a two-week training for five board members and two management officers in Dubai, instead of conducting it locally to save resources.

The capacity-building training in Dubai in May, which cost Macra K46 million in air tickets, allowances and accommodation, provoked public fury over how statutory corporations abuse public funds and then perpetrators are usually left scot-free.

News about the training came on the back of revelation that K6.3 billion from the country’s development partners meant for the containment of Covid-19 pandemic could not be accounted for.

The matter compelled Chakwera to comment on the controversy for the first-time on June 20 2021, when he launched Phase Two of the Malawi National Fibre Backbone Project in Lilongwe. The media broke the news on June 12.

Speaking during the event, Chakwera said there was need to immediately change Macra board because his administration would not tolerate wanton wastefulness and entertain anyone in parastatal organisations after spending endless hours to configure the boards.

“That the Board Chairperson of Macra could not find a more cost-effective way of enhancing the capacity of board members than taking them to Dubai and blowing millions is a clear sign that the leadership of Macra Board needs to change immediately,” said Chakwera during the event.

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