Catholic Bishops lashes at Chizuma for lack of team work in the fight against graft

Catholic Bishops have spoken against graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director Martha Chizuma for failing to be a team player in the fight against corruption.

In a Pastoral Letter issued on Monday, the Catholic Bishops say Chizuma continues to disregard advice from other crucial offices.

In their latest pastoral letter to their laity, the bishops who operate under the banner Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) say the slowness in handling corruption cases by the ACB is worrying.

One of the major concerns is lack of coordination among all state agencies that are part and parcel of the fight.

“Malawians expected relevant agencies entrusted with leading the fight against corruption to decisively and effectively combat this social ill that has become a cause for worry.

“The way the fight against corruption is being waged is posing more questions than answers: Is there a serious cooperation and coordination among government institutions mandated to deal with corruption?” reads part of the letter.

Since she assumed the top most job at ACB eighteen months ago, Chizuma has been at consistent loggerheads with offices of the Director of Public Prosecution and the Attorney General.

True to the bishops’ fears, there seems to be stagnation on corruption cases almost a month after Parliament passed and the President assented to the Corrupt Practices Amendment Act which gives freedom to ACB to prosecute corruption cases without seeking consent.

The current DPP, Dr. Steven Kayuni, has wrongly faced wrath from the public who thought ACB’s failure in expediting cases was solely due to the absence of consent to prosecute from his office.

However, overtime Malawians have now come to appreciate that Chizuma is not up to the task to fight and end corruption.

Governance and human rights experts have since called for her resignation to allow new blood to take over at the graft-busting body.