A Human rights body Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives -CDEDI has demanded for the immediate investigation of senior government officials who are allegedly involved in abuse of taxpayers’ money through unjustified allowance claims.

In a letter signed by CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa, who has also penned minister of finance for disclosures, says the call comes after a spate of arrests at the Accountant Generals -AG department where junior public servants are accused of defrauding the Malawi Government of over K371 million.

Namiwa says wants the matter to be thoroughly investigated saying the present scenario raises serious questions about the safety of the public funds and the competence of those entrusted with the roles of controlling officers, and even the treasury for allowing any officer to draw money from the public purse as it pleases them.

He says the current trend signifies that the national purse is so vulnerable such that an accountant can draw money from it on their own.

“If the findings of this exercise are anything to go by, then the accountants cannot draw money from Account no. 1 on their own. In an unlikely event that this indeed happened, then the AG, the ST and controlling officers would be the biggest failures and not fit to be in those offices, and to put it bluntly, they deserved to be arrested first!” He said.

-Power 101-