The Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee (PAC) has finally confirmed Martha Chizuma as new Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Chizuma’s confirmation follows a closed-door meeting which PAC had today at Parliament Building in Lilongwe.
Speaking to Yoneco FM, PAC Chairperson Joyce Chitsulo said 12 of the 13 members of the Committee voted for Chizuma`s confirmation after adopting a report which the Committee compiled.
“Today members agreed to have the decision of rejecting Chizuma relooked at, and a motion was brought in by Dowa North East Member of Parliament (MP) Sam Kawale then as a Committee we proceeded to vote on confirmation of Chizuma.
“There were 13 members present, of the 13 members, 12 said yes that we should proceed voting as a Committee and one abstained hence the confirmation,” said Chitsulo.
Earlier, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers walked out of the meeting accusing the Committee of carrying out unlawful procedures.
“Our argument is that is it legal what we are doing to rescind the decision on our own while that issue has already gone into the Assembly.
Because as it stands the rescinding is a legal mandate but it was supposed to be done by the Assembly that House was supposed to rescind that decision and ask us to reconvene to look it again,” argued Victor Musowa, PAC`s DPP spokesperson.
But reacting to the development, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Dowa North East lawmaker Sam Kawale has defended the Committee’s decision arguing that PAC executed its duties both lawfully and procedurally.
“They didn’t walk out in protesting that we are breaking the law, I want that to be very clear, they walked out because the felt one of the members was interrupting them.
“The truth of the matter is that no procedure was flouted, our Standing Orders are very clear in terms of proceedings of the Committee, what we did was absolutely 100 percent procedural,” said Kawale.
Nonetheless, the PAC Chairperson is on Tuesday morning expected to present a report in the Chamber as requested by the House last week.
In a dramatic twist of events, the vocal Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) has called off its mass demonstrations slated for Tuesday following Chizuma`s confirmation by PAC.
