As the battle for the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) convention intensifies, Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda faces accusations of bribing councilors to secure votes for his preferred candidate in last month's elections.
According to highly placed sources within the party, Chithyola, with the assistance of Lilongwe City Central MP Alfred Jiya, who also serves as his campaign manager, allegedly met and paid off the councilors on the eve of the mayoral vote. This election saw former Deputy Mayor Esther Sagawa succeed Richard Banda as Lilongwe City Mayor.
"As you know, Chithyola is canvassing for the Secretary General position of the MCP and has been trying to use money and his influence as Finance Minister to win votes. He has been targeting city and municipal elections to install loyalists. He knows that mayors are influential during the party convention, so he is investing in these elections," said our source.
He added: "He has been using money from unknown sources and has been very generous in distributing it. His motive is clear because he has already drafted the new mayor into his campaign for Secretary General, and she has been joining him on his campaign trail."
According to one of the councilors at Lilongwe City Assembly, Chithyola promised each councilor K1 million plus a party at his Area 47 house after the elections. Nyasa Times is not certain if these promises have been fulfilled.
Chithyola's phone went unanswered several times when we tried to contact him. Two years ago, Member of Parliament for Blantyre City South East, Sameer Suleman, accused Chithyola of mismanaging funds received from the Global Fund. Suleman claimed that Chithyola's alleged misappropriation of funds would make it difficult to win donor confidence for budgetary support.
"Whenever you are caught stealing and you give back, it means you took it. I want to know how safe our money is in the hands of such a minister. This is a serious issue. Our money is not safe," said Suleman.
Responding to these accusations, Chityhola Banda stated there is no court of law that found him guilty in relation to the alleged abuse of funds.
"I have a clean record. There is no judgment that found me guilty. It is politically unsound for somebody to attack me like this," said Chithyola.
According to a Global Fund report released in 2021, findings showed that Chinansi Foundation senior officials, including Chithyola, collaborated to misappropriate US$70,572 (about K126 million) from the program bank account, submitting fabricated documents to conceal their actions. Findings also showed that a further US$9,924 (about K18 million) of non-compliant expenditures in the grant program resulted from non-transparent procurements and unsupported expenditures.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
In May, a group of Concerned Citizens of Malawi called for a deeper inquiry into the activities of Chithyola and his daughter, Regina, amidst suspicions of their involvement in what seems to be the country's latest corruption scandal.
The sudden rise in wealth of the Finance Minister's 24-year-old daughter, reportedly flaunting ownership of 20 luxurious cars, has raised eyebrows, prompting calls for the Anti-Corruption Bureau to intervene and conduct a thorough investigation.
The Concerned Citizens group finds it alarming to witness Chithyola's daughter exhibiting such opulence while many Malawians are grappling with economic challenges and struggling to meet basic needs like food.
