Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Joseph Mwanamveka has assured the nation that the current government under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will not do any witch hunting to any politician or Malawian as it was used to be during previous administration.
Mwanamveka said this on Friday when he presented Mid Year Budget at Parliament building in Lilongwe.
In his his budget statement, Mwanamveka that all the money allocated to State House, Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and some few ministries was exhausted within five months.
Speaking to the media after presentation on possible breaches and criminalities by officials from affected departments on the usage of government resources, he said rmpant over expenditure needs to be looked at critically.
“We have started instituted the audits to some of these departments on how public funds were used”, said Mwanamveka.
The minister added that DPP will not do witch hunting. but will arrest or take someone to court based on evidence.
He mentioned some of government institutions targeted for auditing including Salima Sugar company, Loans board, National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF), Green Belt Authority, Mega Farm)among others.
“Malawi’s economy was very fragile and the current leadership came to recover and return donor confidence”, added Mwanamveka.
In his comment after presentation, Leader of Opposition Simplex Chithyola Banda acknowledged the measures government has put in place as part of economic recovery.
“I have noticed new things in the budget which will indeed help to improve economic growth in our country”, said Banda.
He however expressed concern over the decision by government to completely suspend recruitment and promotion of civil servants saying this will demotivate already employed officers and will deny opportunity to most people for employment.
“What they have done is very bad. We promise Malawians that MCP will reverse the decision once come back into government in 2030”, said Banda.
Members of Parliament are expecting to review and scrutinize the budget from next week.
