President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has with immediate effect withdrawn the appointment of Deputy Inspector General of the Malawi Police Service, Demester Chigwenembe.
Chakwera disclosed this during the swearing in ceremony of new Ministers at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in the capital Lilongwe.
He also clarified that the appointments of the Commissioner General and Deputy Commissioner General of the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) have been made to function in an acting capacity.
“It has been pointed out, correctly I might add, that the law does not give me power to appoint a Commissioner General and Deputy Commissioner General for Malawi Revenue Authority. What the press release on the appointments did not mention is that because such appointments are the domain of the Board of MRA, my appointments are only made to function in an acting capacity until the Board is reconstituted and in place to make permanent appointments.
“I have made these provisional appointments to stop the free-for-all pilferage of taxes and the destruction of evidence that have been taking place there in the last few weeks, crimes which need to be stopped as a matter of urgency,” said Chakwera.
He added: “As for the appointment of the Deputy Inspector General, it has duly been withheld pending a regularization process, and I commend all of you who noted the anomaly.”
Turning to the Cabinet Ministers, Chakwera warned the new Ministers to desist from corruption and other malpractices.
“You each have five months to produce results that will give Malawians confidence that change has come. At the end of that period, you will each give a report to Malawians publicly on your progress in each of the key performance indicators that I will give you.
“At the start of the New Year, I will shortlist those of you whose performance I find satisfactory and include you among those who will be publicly interviewed for a year-long appointment on my 2021 Cabinet,” said Chakwera.
