Tione Andsen
19 May 2005
Rivonia — Malawi's minister of education has been sacked after being implicated in a public fund scandal, the office of the president and cabinet made has said through the state own national broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).
The sacking of the minister follows his arrest by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on allegations that he used public funds mounting to K165, 550.00 for his wedding which was held on March 26,2005 in Blantyre. Yusuf Mwawa was the minister of education and become the first minister to be sacked in the new Mutharika administration on corruption charges.
ACB arrested Mwawa Tuesday morning and was brought before senior resident magistrate Mzondi Mvula where he was charged. The charges brought against him ranged from abuse of office theft by public servant forgery and uttering false document. ACB director, Gustave Kaliwo who is representing the state said 14 witnesses will be paraded to testify against Mwawa.
Lawyer, Gift Nankhuni who has applied for bail for his client, is defending Mwawa. The court granted Mwawa a bail bond mounting to k40, 000.00 in kwacha. Mwawa will be required to report to ACB every Monday and surrender his passport and travel documents.
Mwawa renounced his membership to the national executive committee of the UDF but did not indicated his intention of joining the Mutharika's DPP. Mutharika had been preaching against corrupting in all the meetings he had addressed and he even accuse his predecessor for promoting corrupt practices behid his reign.
OPC has not named any replacement for Mwawa and the court case resumes on May 31, 2005.
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