DRAMA IN MPHWIYO’s SHOOTING CASE: MANONDO BACKS LUTEPO ON CASHGATE MONEY GIVEN TO TEMBO

Pika Manondo, second accused in the shooting of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo on Thursday said that opposition People’s Party (PP) funded the then Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President John Tembo during convention without his knowledge.

Manondo’s testimony was similar to a testimony given by cashgate convict Oswald Lutepo on Wednesday where he told the court PP President Dr. Joyce Banda gave him money amounting to MK10 million to fund Tembo to win the elections.

The second accused told the court on Thursday that, PP’s main target was retired Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo not to win the presidency of MCP as he was a threat to PP based on his personality, financial muscle and tribe he was coming from as he is a Lhomwe from Southern Region.

Manondo said PP wanted a weaker candidate to emerge from MCP and Tembo was the main target as it was not easy to form an alliance with him.

According to Mamondo, the deal started to yield no results when it was an earthed that Tembo was also secretly campaigning for for Reverend Dr Lazarus Chakwera due to the fact that the Constitution was not allowing him to stand on the convention.

Manondo also disclosed that PP then started funding Chakwera secretly without his knowledge as they feared Munlo would split votes in the south where PP leader Joyce Banda comes from.

He said all this was happening without any formal agreement between Tembo and PP.

He was disclosed that PP went further by sending Mphwiyo to Kenya to learn how the ruling parties there rig elections but the deal hit the snag due to the fact that in Kenya they use Identification Cards unlike in Malawi where an electorate must be registered first.

Manondo told the court that he roped in Macdonald Kumwembe in January 2013 as another man on the ground from Southern Region as they intensified their strategies towards 2014 tripartite elections.

Manondo’s testimony is in line with the Baker Tilly report which revealed that some the money plundered were used in the May 2014 tripartite elections.

The shooting of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo led to the massive revelations of the looting of public funds at Capitol Hill dubbed cashgate.