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In Malawi, political arrests often seem like a public spectacle. But behind the headlines lies a deeper issue—one where the arrest of political figures may not lead to real justice. In the words of Onjezani Kenani,
One bunch of thieves has arrested another bunch of thieves, and they want us to stop everything to commend the arresting bunch
Over the past couple of days, we have seen a good deal of opposition members being arrested. The following were arrested in the past two days, Sameer Suleman who was arrested for making defamatory remarks against members of the ruling MCP. Joseph Mwanamveka, Lloyd Muhara, Collins Magalasi, Cliff Chiunda, and Jimmy Grey Kusamale.
From the outside looking in, one would clap hands for the current government, seemingly seeking justice for corruption and theft of taxpayers’ monies. However, we have seen this play before so many times that we understand how such arrests could be highly politically charged especially because we are in election season.
The Alarming Truth: Political Arrests in Malawi
Two days ago, the police arrested two DPP members, Joseph Mwanamveka and Sameer Suleman, on charges of allegedly embezzling K447.50 billion ($258 million) and defamatory remarks respectively. Joseph Mwanamveka is a former Minister of Finance and currently holds office of Vice President for DPP in the Southern Region. Sameer Suleman is currently a lawmaker, who is quite known for his blunt remarks in parliament.
While the arrest of Mwanamveka and five others namely, Lloyd Muhara (former Chief Secretary to the Government), Collins Magalasi (former CEO of Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority), Cliff China (former Secretary to the Treasury), and Grey Kusamale (former Company Secretary for Greenbelt Authority) might be seen as progress to combating corruption, one needs only to ask the sincerity to the current government’s commitment to justice.
In May 2020, I wrote about 9 Unresolved Cases in Malawi where I lamented about the lack of accountability in the political circles. It truly is a vicious cycle, one gets arrested, is granted bail, they appear in court a couple of days, and then the case dies a natural death. The same people with active cases of corruption then go on podiums asking the Malawians they stole from, to vote them into public office so they can effect change.
They make promises of bringing to an end corruption, and to me, that is the biggest slap to the face. However, we stupidly tick their names on the ballot paper, and watch them have the power to influence organisations and become more corrupt than before.
The five people that were recently arrested were charged with embezzlement of K447.5 billion from two companies, Salima Sugar Company and Greenbelt Authority. Instead of the government receiving a round of applause, they have gotten mostly the opposite. Social media has been charged with the public calling out the government for making arrests based on political affiliations. The public is almost uncaring of the money that they were robbed of, they are looking at the timing of the arrests and questioning the motive.
While it angers me that five people were greedy enough to steal that amount of money (regardless whether they shared it to different people and their political party), I too question the government’s motive. One can easily question why it has taken the current government 5 years to come up with the case. One can also question why the case has only come out in during an election year.
Even if they wanted to be genuine, the timing of the arrests scream something different.
Why Political Arrests Don’t Lead to Justice
I have given an example of cases that have been looming over us for over a decade with no indication of ever being concluded and justice being delivered. Such cases are never truly meant to be concluded, they are strings they attach to one another so they can control them as puppets. Let me fully explain this.
1. Weak Institutions
The major reason why justice is never served on such cases is due to our weak institutions. We have allowed our institutions to ridiculously be overpowered by politics and have foregone their independence. This has ensured the prevention of accountability, and has allowed ruling parties to do as they wish without the fear of law.
Recently, the whole country was erupted with the corruption that takes place in the judiciary that has allowed those abled in their pockets to move around freely without answering to their crimes. When a country relies on a judicial system that requires one to have money in order to get their freedom, instead of looking at facts, it shows you just how far we are as a nation from ever recovering.
A corrupt judiciary bundled together with a police that is used as the ruling party’s watchdog, instead of working for the masses is a match made in heaven. The lack of independence of the police service is triggering. Many arrests are done without proper investigations, just a mere instruction from “bosses”.
Institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau are compromised, thus widening the accountability gap in the country.
During the 2019 campaign trail, President Chakwera emphasized his commitment to ending politically motivated arrests. In his own words,
I want institutions to be able to do their job freely, investigate, and if they do have evidence of whatever stolen, then they should follow whatever the law said about the same.
However, we could easily go back to February 2024 when there was a manhunt for reknown journalist Gregory Gondwe for an article he wrote on Zuneth Sattar. This went against President Chakwera’s commitment to press freedom, so who is to say the commitment made in 2019 is being uphold?
2. Political Maneuvering
As I said before, some of the arrests are only done to tie strings to people so they can be controlled. Those in power will influence arrests with the aim of blinding the public on making strides towards accountability, but the deep-rooted issue is control. The need to silence their rivals and consolidate influence.
These arrests are never about addressing the systematic failures and constituting change, they are an illusion of reform. The public claps hands about how super-charged the ruling government is taking on corruption, while behind closed doors, deals are being made. Great example of this is the Saulos Chilima saga in the web of Zuneth Sattar.
We mostly saw this play by the DPP when they were in the ruling seat. Opposition figures were targeted while their men got involved in similar scandals and would boost about it. Similarly, this government appears to be walking the same road as their predecessors. The recent arrests, specifically, have seemingly raised questions whether they are truly motivated by the hunger for justice or political silencing.
Will We Ever Witness True Justice
With so many corruption cases piling, I wonder if we will ever get true justice. No party that comes into power ever has the political will to tackle corruption, make meaningful reforms, and work with the international organisations on ensuring that Malawi gets on the right track.
When the late Dr Saulos Chilima was still with us, he had been made in charge of reforms. The man died without Malawians ever knowing what the reforms document he had worked so hard for contained, and the recommendations. That was the only hope there was for a change in the status quo.
Justice will prevail when the institutions that are constituted to serve it become independent, while being accountable. We need to shift away from the current “Justice for Sale.” That also applies to our police service which is the first pawn they use to ensure politically-charged arrests are made.
It is also important that international bodies help Malawians in the fight for justice y putting pressure for reforms and providing support to build stronger institutions. We saw how this worked during Martha Chizuma’s tenure as the Director General at the Anti-Corruption Bureau. It can definitely work if that pressure is constant, perhaps that would be bring the political will for justice.
Will this be a norm in 2025?
If this is the question you are asking yourself, then the answer is probably. Like I said, this is elections year, and this is just the beginning. A few others will be thrown in cells just to send a message.
However, I am inclined to think that the true power lies in the hands of the citizens. The people of Malawi once asked for democracy and got granted, they demanded an election to be trashed and a new one get conducted in 2019/20 and got granted, who is to say that if we stood together and demanded accountability, transparency and reforms that we could not get granted?
We can demand for better systems and institutions.
What are your thoughts on the current arrests? Leave comments below and share.