Malawi’s president strips his vice president of his powers for corruption

June 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera stripped Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima of his powers on Wednesday after he was singled out in a 142.9 million euro ($150 million) corruption scandal.

The name of the vice president has appeared on the ‘Sattar’ list of the Anti-Corruption Office (ACB, for its acronym in English), the body that fights corruption suspects that Chilima and other officials received money from businessman Zuneth Sattar, as reported by the ‘Nyasa Times’ newspaper.

The president fired Police Inspector General George Kainja and suspended the chief of staff for State Residences.

Likewise, Chakwera has explained that he cannot remove or suspend the vice president because he is an elected official, so the head of state has no power to discipline him.

The Malawi president has assured that the list contains names of journalists, lawyers, officials from the judiciary, the Police, the Malawi Defense Forces and the Ministry of Justice, among others.

Chakwera prevailed in the 2020 elections, which were held after the presidential elections held in 2019 – in which former president Peter Mutharika was re-elected – were annulled by the courts due to irregularities recorded during the process.

After that, the new president promised in his inaugural speech at the end of June 2020 to fight corruption in the country and asked the judicial apparatus “to do more to end the culture of corruption and selective justice”, although members of his own Executive have been embroiled in corruption scandals.