Police in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe have arrested Chief Executive Officer for Lilongwe City Council Kelvin Mmangisa and deputy Principal Secretary for Ministry of Disabilities and the Elderly Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
According to National Police spokesperson Davie Chingwalu, Mmangisa is accused of drawing allowances for a trip to Italy which he never undertook and collecting allowances outside his contract.
It has now transpired that apart from pocketing allowances for a trip to Italy that never was; Lilongwe City Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Mmangisa has also been arrested for receiving ‘double salary’ every month.
Documents in our possession show that the city boss apart from his consolidated salary of K7, 524, 180 per year he went ahead demanding other monthly benefits totaling K660,000.00 per month from March 1 2009 to February 29, 2012.
This means that during that period Mmangisa illegally pocketed about K23 million on top of the almost same amount which he legally earned the same period.
According to a letter titled Renewal of Contract reference number LG/PF/A/171/23 from ministry of local government addressed to Mr. Mangisa, demands that he should pay back the money.
“We wish to put it on record that these extra payments were illegal as they were not provided for in your signed contract agreement which you knew fully well that you needed to respect. We therefore wish to request you to refund all the monies you obtained which were not covered by your contract agreement,” reads the letter in part, signed Secretary for Local Government S.S. Sumaisi.
The letter says Mr. Mmangisa was receiving K100,000 for housing allowance, K100,000 for airtime, K50,000 for hospitality, K60,000 for utility, K45,000 for security, K20,000 for ground phone, K252,000 for fuel, K20,000 for cook, and K20,000 for gardener – on top of his consolidated salary of K7,524, 180 per year.
After his arrest this on Thursday, the police said Mr. Mmangisa had been arrested for abuse of office and pocketing allowances meant for a trip to Italy which he never travelled.
The same Thursday, the police arrested Mr. Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, Deputy Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Disabilities and who at one point was State House press officer under the late Bingu wa Mutharika, is accused of possessing a bayonet, which can only be found with police officers, and an AK 47 toy gun. A bayonet is a long blade that is fixed to a rifle for hand-to-hand fighting. Mtumodzi was arrested around 6 am this Thursday when about 20 police officers invaded his house in Area 10.
The arrests of Mr. Mmangisa and Mtumodzi come barely days after the arrests of Anti Corruption Bureau Director Alexius Nampota and Clerk of Parliament Ms Maltilda Katopola.
Mr. Nampota, who was arrested for abuse of office, is out on bail while Miss Katopola who was questioned by the police is on forced leave and she is refusing to hand over bills to the President until her issue is resolved.
