Chuka refuses to resign as governor Reserve Bank of Malawi
Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) governor Charles Chuka has stood his ground that there is no reason for him to resign despite calls from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
RBM spokesperson Mbane Ngwira said there is no reason for Chuka to resign and that he is not considering such a move at all.
Ngwira argued that PAC’s call for Chuka to step down was based on incorrect information on the roles of the bank and governor.
“The recommendation is solely based on allegations that some cheques associated with the scam [cash gate] were cashed from the government Account Number One [at RBM],” said Ngwira.
Ngwira trashed PAC’s call saying Account Number One has no cheque book hence no one can withdraw money from the account with a cheque as has been the case in cashgate transactions.
PAC recently summoned RBM to explain mismanagement and misappropriation of government finances which has been blamed on the shortfalls of the Integrated Financial Information Management System (Ifmis).
Economic Empowerment Action Group (EEAG) president Lewis Chiwalo also joined PAC in demanding the resignation of Chuka and last Friday gave Chuka a seven-day ultimatum to resign.
But in a statement issued on Monday , the central bank denied responsibility in the Capital Hill looting, but has noted that government’s payment system has challenges in which a parallel manual system is operated.
RBM said government’s Account Number One cheques are issued against it and is only used as a conduit to other operational accounts once donor funds and other government revenues are deposited in it.
The central bank notes that there are two payment systems for government transactions: the Credit Ceiling Authority (CCA) and the Central Payments System (CPS).
