Malawi’s Lands, Housing and Urban Development Minister, Symon Vuwa Kaunda has warned to fire the Ministry’s officials involved in corruption in land sale, as the country’s President Peter Mutharika challenges to end the vice within his last five years term.
Mutharika has recently claimed that corruption is one of the main evils retarding the sub-Saharan nation’s development, and he is said to have advised his new cabinet to remain awake and deal with any corruption incident in both the public and private sectors.
The land sector is one of the areas reported to have been marred by massive corruption, especially by the sector’s officials.
Vuwa Kaunda, who had previously served for the same Ministry during the late Bingu Was Mutharika’s regime, (brother to the incumbent President), said during his familiarization tour in northern Malawi that apart from being fired, all the suspects will be arrested to face the law.
“Getting fired is not the last punishment for the suspects, they will have to be arrested and improved in found guilty regardless of the gravity of the crime because they are dealing with public offices,” said Kaunda.
The Minister said he would not risk his position to corrupt officers who demand bribes from locals and international investors to sell the land.
“The President has clearly said he doesn’t want to see or hear any incident of corruption in the country, and I’m there to complete his stand for zero tolerance to corruption,” he added.
The Minister took a record of all the plot set to be sold to the public within the next four months and warned that he doesn’t want to see these plots unoccupied when many people had applied for pieces of land from the Ministry.
A northern Malawi’s based social commentator Jackson Musiska told Report Focus News, that the action taken by the Minister would be a milestone to end corruption in the country by the current administration.
“We need such commitment from the authorities to curb corruption in the country,” said Msiska, “the warning from the Minister has sent a signal to the officials that the current administration has no-nonsense on corruption this time around, and that no one would right his job by getting involved in corruption.”