By Ulande Nkomesha
VETERAN politician Vernon Mwaanga says Ministers and government officials involved in corrupt activities should be charged and removed from their positions.
And Mwaanga says there is need for African countries to move from military rule into elective systems of government.
Commenting on Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera’s decision to dissolve his cabinet after three of his now-former ministers were facing allegations of corruption, Mwaanga in an interview said erring ministers should be charged and removed from their positions if sufficient grounds were established.
“As far as I am concerned it is not a new development to dissolve cabinet when you want to make changes. It is particularly common in French speaking countries.
It is not a new phenomenon, it happens in many countries where the cabinet is dissolved or ministers are asked to resign to give the President a free hand to reorganise his cabinet. So what President Chakwera did is not something new nor dramatic. It has been happening over the years,” he said.
“Ministers and officials who are deemed to be corrupt must be removed from office and face charges because no one is above the law. If there are sufficient grounds which have been established, ministers who are deemed to be corrupt, officials who are deemed to be corrupt, whether in the civil service or the parastatal sector must be removed and made to face the law. Corruption is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
I know that in the past ministers went to court while in office which is a very strange phenomenon. You can’t have ministers who are charged for corruption, like we saw in the previous administration, going to court, flying a government flag and being accompanied by either assistants accompanying the minister to court. That is not the way to do it. So there is need to tidy up that aspect because it creates a poor impression.”
And commenting on the recent coup d’état in Burkina Faso where the military ousted President Roch Kaboré, Mwaanga said there was need for African countries to move away from military rule into elective systems of government.
“There is zero tolerance to military coups in the African Union, in SADC, in COMESA, in ECOWAS, in IGAD, in the MAGHREB region up in the north. There is zero tolerance to military coups because there is a very well founded belief that the countries must move towards democracy of elective systems of government. For a coup to suddenly emerge in Burkina Faso, that is unacceptable.
I am sure both the United Nations, ECOWAS and African Union will condemn it and will ensure that the coup leader and the coup is brought down. There is no room for coup in Africa anymore, we have to move towards elective governments,” said Mwaanga.
“The military are there to protect the interest of the state and to ensure that the people are protected, not to begin gunning for political power, that is not acceptable. There has been some ease in Burkina Faso for sometime, they have had internal issues but those internal issues were being addressed by the political leaders, government and the opposition.
So why the military decided to intervene is not clear. I hope that this particular one will not be tolerated. ECOWAS which has removed military dictatorships before in other countries in West Africa should do the same.”