Chakwera fires presidential taskforce on covid-19 co-chair, DODMA commissioner
President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has fired co-chairperson of presidential taskforce on covid-19 Dr John Phuka and commissioner of DoDMA James Chiusiwa
Chakwera says has directed secretary to president and cabinet to replace them after scrutinizing the financial reports submitted by clusters that were allocated 6.2 billion kwacha funds to fight covid-19
In his national address the president said the scrutiny showed lack of toughness by those leaders in demanding accountability in the course of spending the funds
The president told the nation that the irregularities which were raised by Ombudsman report in November were missed and left unchecked by technical leads of DODMA and covid-19 taskforce
“When the cluster heads and controlling officers appeared before his task force on Tuesday it was evident that many of them are poorly led and require corrective measures,” Chakwera
Chakwera said all cluster heads with the exception of one submitted reports with no backing documents and had to be told on site to bring them
He named Dr Chalamira Nkhoma as new co-chair of covid-19 taskforce but will be naming a new commissioner of DODMA soon
To strengthen the taskforce the president said will add representatives of civil society organizations and watchdogs like ant corruption bureau and Malawi Human rights commission
Chakwera ordered the suspension of all clusters for failing to maintain proper records of how such critical funds were used and defying his directive to submit reports weekly to his office
“I will deal with any cluster that fails to submit report of their expenditure of the 17.5 billion kwacha funds every week,” Chakwera
He bemoaned that though he ordered the outgoing clusters to submit the reports three weeks ago at least 12 clusters have not begun to do so
The president said vice president Dr Saulos Chilima who is also minister of reforms should make recommendations on the changes on laws of procurement, allowances and vacancies within 3 months and submit to parliament
Chakwera announced that 100, 000 additional Astrazeneca vaccines secured will arrive in the country within a week for the protection of health workers
The president said this consignment is different from the one arriving at the end of the month for the general population
Commenting on the matter, political analyst has commended President Chakwera for firing the co-chairperson of presidential taskforce on Covid 19 and Commissioner of DODMA
George Phiri of Livingstonia University says there is nothing wrong with Chakwera firing Dr Phuka and Chiusiwa because as heads, they are responsible for instilling discipline in their subordinates.
“Chakwera has a mandate to hire and fire personnel within the civil service.” Phiri
Contrary to Phiri, CDED executive director Sylvester Namima faults Chakwera’s way of handling matters related to national interest describing him as clueless.
Namima said “inclusion of oversight bodies like Anti corruption Bureau and Malawi Human Rights commission in the taskforce is compromising the independence of the two government departments.”
He faulted the firing of Chiusiwa and Dr Phuka saying is a clear case of application of selective justice.
Namiwa therefore said the president is only interested with publicity other than human interest.
