By Vincent Gunde
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has written a letter to the country’s Attorney General Frank Mbeta requesting him to step down pending a logical conclusion of his corruption case.
The CDEDI said the immediate challenge before the Attorney General in his capacity is to address rampant corruption in the country saying Malawians have taken it upon themselves to fight corruption at the Judiciary.
The organization said Lawyer and Human Rights Defender Counsel Alexious Kamangila has brought to light a matter that was almost forgotten reminding Malawians that Mbeta obtained an order stopping the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) from executing a warrant of arrest obtained after it had concluded its investigations over his involvement in corruption dealings.
In the letter to Attorney General Frank Mbeta signed by its Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa, the CDEDI said Malawians have taken over the corruption fight by themselves observing that politicians obtain court orders stopping their arrest and investigations.
The CDEDI said more recently, the nation has been awakened by the ruling of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal awarding trillions of Kwachas to the dead Finance Bank which voluntarily closed its businesses in Malawi in 2005.
The organization said while Malawians are joining hands to fight endemic corruption at the Judiciary, they are faced with harsh reality that the head of the bar himself is an alleged beneficiary of the very system Malawians have vowed to address, saying they are not sure how the matter involving Mbeta on his alleged corruption case was concluded.
“Now that you are no longer a private lawyer and by extension, you are the Chief Legal Advisor to the Executive arm of government including the President, the Speaker and Parliament and even the Judiciary, it is imperative that you should mind your own integrity and that of the Attorney General’s office, ‘” reads CDEDI’s letter to Mbeta in part.
The CDEDI said Malawians are expecting his immediate reaction from Counsel Kamangila’s accusations that he has levelled against him warning him that his assumed silence can be construed as an indirect admission of those allegations.
