Government has come under intense fire from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for signing the K7 trillion (US$6.8 billion) Bridgin Foundation grant to Malawi without what the party says due diligence.
This comes as the country has signed the grant aimed at supporting the country’s social economic development.
Shadreck Namalomba, spokesperson for DPP claims the foundation leaves a lot of gaps and so many unanswered questions.
Yeremiah Chihana: Malawians have been scammed
He says it is sad that government went ahead to sign the deal on behalf of Malawians without undertaking careful due diligence .
Namalomba has also claimed that the whole deal has been done out of desperation.
Member of Parliament for Mzimba North Yeremiah Chihana has also faulted government for falling into what he calls a scam by signing the grant agreement from Bridgin Foundation.
According to Chihana, by signing such a Grant at State House means that the security at State House is sleeping, the Attorney General is sleeping, the minister of Justice and most especially minister of Finance are sleeping.
Chihana has said government has failed to do due diligence on the deal hence falling into something they think is a good deal.
The big scam
He has further faulted government for lacking seriousness when entering into money deals citing a US$170 million guarantee for fertilizer which government gave to a not known company ‘Auzano Capital Management’.
Pressure is piling on the government to come out clearly on the conditions attached to the grant agreement with a Belgium based organisation.
President Lazarus Chakwera and Bridgin Foundation president Tanko Mauhamadou signed the deal on Monday at Kamuzu palace in Lilongwe.
The grant is expected to fund seven projects including the health, energy, education sectors.
Concerns have been raised on how true the deal is considering the amount of money attached.
The foundation is being suspected to have been involved in fraudulent activities elsewhere.
Reacting to the development is Ned Poya a member of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and also United Democratic Front spokesperson on finance wonders if due diligence was done.
Willy Kambwandira Executive Director of the Centre for Social Transparency and Accountability (CSAT) said the conditions attached should be made public.
Meanwhile, a Mzuzu based organization – Social Action for Development (SAFD) has written Bridgin Foundation and the Belgian government seeking clarification on the 7 trillion Kwacha grant that the latter will make to Malawi.
SAFD Executive director Isaac Cheke Ziba said the action follows lack of information on the deal which involves a lot of money, three times the country’s budget.
Ziba said they want the Belgian government to check if they are aware that Bridgin Foundation which is headquartered in their country, is to provide such a huge grant to the Malawian government.
It has also emerged that the alleged financier does not provide more information on its website citing security reasons
