Ngwembe, Banda press on JZU to account for donations

Pressure continue to mount on Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo as former party lawmaker Kizito Ngwembe and MCP Restoration Movement chair Chris Banda has asked him to account for donations the party leading to the 2009 elections.

Ngwembe sounded the call during a news conference at Kalikuti Hotel in Lilongwe.

We want to know how much Tembo received for the party during the campaign period from well-wishers and how the funds were used, said Ngwembe who has been one of the loyal aides of Tembo.

Banda also said in a statement that Tembo is misinforming party leaders that he personally gave him K500 million in donations towards the just ended general elections in support of the party.

He is trying to hide behind such disinformation to avoid the real issue that I raised- which is that Hon Tembo must disclose how much funding we received as a party from our various donors and supporters both in Malawi and abroad, said Banda.

I want Hon Tembo to account to the party and disclose how much money we collected in order to put to rest the rumours making the rounds among party members that the party might have raised around K500 million from different people who supported MCP with funding so that it would have sufficiently prepared and win the just ended general elections.

Much of this money came from sponsors within Malawi, ordinary party members like me, business men, the Asian community and other sponsors who associated with MCP during the Kamuzu are such the family of late Tiny Rowland, who owned the Lonhro Group across the world.

There were people who were donating through the MCP website but much of the money was given to Hon Tembo in cash.

He claimed that at one point in his discussion with Tembo regarding funding for the party, he told him that there was one person who came to see him in the evening with a carton and he told him that he had some T-shirts to help in the campaign.

Tembo just left the carton in the lounge and when he returned to the carton the following day to count his T-shirts, he found that there was K3, 000,000 in the carton.

I want Hon Tembo to tell the nation through a press conference that I am telling lies. There were thousands upon thousands who gave money in this way to the party, and yet our aspiring MPs were not supported financially to win the elections, said Banda.

As an MCP member who was given the responsibility to be the MCP representative in the UK and Europe, I spoke to many possible sponsors, gave them the mobile number of Hon Tembo since he was very clear that we should not touch MCP money which was good as it made things easy for him to know who gave what, he said.

My records show that my small contributions to the MCP effort financially leading to the elections, through either my personal contributions or through the close friends I spoke to who gave MCP money, comes to around K570, 000. There were hundreds of party members who were doing the same, that should give people an idea that the rumoured figure of K500 million is not as farfetched as Hon Tembo wants to make people believe.

He said Tembo should allow an independent audit which must include a trail of his personal accounts both in Malawi and those that he holds in South Africa.

Hon Tembo must also allow an audit of how he spent the tax payers money given to MCP through the parliamentary allocations, which according to records was around K4.9 million every quarter. Making it close to K20, 000,000 per year and close to K100, 000,000 over the five year mandate of the last seating of parliament.

This is public money collected from the poor in Malawi who pay their taxes through their noses, and it should not be acceptable that one man should use such money to fnd his personal luxuries when some of those who pay such taxes, sometimes sleep on empty stomachs.

Banda also challenge Tembo to deny his allegation that he has sold the party headquarters to NICO or part of it.

He must produce evidence that the party still owns the headquarters building at the city centre in Lilongwe. Otherwise Hon Tembo must account for a further K30, 000,000 he is purported to have collected in a land transfer deal involving the MCP headquarters.

But Tembo reported dismissed Banda during a caucus with Members of Parliament that he is just a beggar in London.

Banda said he is not impoverished in the UK.

I live a very comfortable life, drive expensive cars and that thanks to God, I have made very good progress professionally in the British public sector and do hold very respectable academic qualifications including a Master of Science Degree in Development Management(with specialisation in Social Policy Analysis and Institutional Reform).

Hon Tembo may also wish to know that I am running businesses in Malawi, pay taxes and do employ a reasonable number of people both in Lilongwe and Blantyre. Hon Tembo should not try to use lies to discredit me; it is not going to work.

He said there is need to effect leadership change in MCP urgently and that Tembo will not succeed in his effort to continue to impose his mandate on the party as its leader.

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