Here, the term “DPP” refers to the Director of Public Prosecutions, not the political party whose leader Peter Mutharika selfishly subjected former President Bakili Muluzi to suffer from trauma for 14 years due to corruption accusations that former directors of the Anti-Corruption Bureau described as “unprosecutable.” Muluzi was suspected of diverting 1.7 billion Malawian kwacha in donor funds into his account. Since the former president’s arrest in 2006, the case has cost the taxpayer approximately 1 billion kwacha, leading the quasi-religious grouping Public Affairs Committee (PAC) to call for its termination.
The case has finally been dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Masauko Chamkakala. The DPP stated in an interview that he will brief the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee on the matter on June 4 and would not want to preempt his report by revealing the justification to the media.
President Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party deserve to be congratulated for the bold decision to free Muluzi. Former President Muluzi during his heydays would stand on the podium to vilify the Malawi Congress Party for its ‘dark past.’ Seeing the same MCP setting him free from the yoke of court charges shows that the World is indeed round; we need to live well with one another for you never know who will help the other in the future. The same applies to Uladi Mussa whom the President also pardoned. This world is indeed round and all this should teach people to always be good to one another.
Whether former President Muluzi and Mussa would repay the favor by being kind to Chakwera and MCP remains to be seen. However, if current events are any indication—in which Muluzi and President Chakwera are coordinating post-Cyclone Freddy government interventions—then one can infer that Muluzi is a statesman and a former president who conducts himself in a manner akin to that of a chief, that is, impartially and cooperatively with the government.
