Kamlepo in ‘tit for tat’ with Mutharika: ‘release the names within 24-hours or resign as President’

Rumphi East Member of Parliament Kamlepo Kalua who is also opposition People’s Party (PP) third Vice President for the North has reacted to President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s call that he should give him names of seven Cabinet Ministers implicated in the 577 billion cashgate scandal, saying the call is baseless.

The highly charged Mutharika on Monday gave Kalua 24-hours ultimatum to feed him with the full list of Seven Cabinet Ministers implicated in the ongoing investigations to the plunder of public funds or shut up forever.

But in his reaction, Kalua also gave Mutharika 24-hours to release the names or resign as President of the Republic of Malawi, saying as a President Mutharika has failed to uphold the constitution.

“If he is really the President of the Republic of Malawi he should follow the constitituion of the republic of Malawi and am giving him 24-hours as well for him to release the names of the rotten Cabinet Ministers or resigned as a President,” said Kalua.

Kalua said he will not be shaken by Mutharika’s threat even if it means sacrificing his own blood.

“The President said in Zomba that he had a report and that page one is Joyce Banda, page 2 is Joyce Banda and page 3 is Joyce Banda, which report was he referring to?

“If he wants to kill me, let him kill me. The Auditor General did not only give names to me , he gave it so many people,” said Kalua.

Preliminary audits of government finances between 2009 and 2014, carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and financed by the German government, indicate that at least K577 bn. ($807 mn.) could not be accounted for.

Later, the estimated loss was reduced to K236 bn. ($330 mn.), still a gigantic figure for such a small country, about one third of the government’s annual budget.