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| National |
| Muslims split over compensation money |
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by
Mabvuto Banda, 31 October 2004
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17:26:06
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The holy month of Ramadhan for Muslims in the country has been rocked by revelations that top executive members of the Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam) allegedly awarded themselves contracts from the K10 million compensation to renovate mosques and compensate victims of the 1999 post-election violence in the Northern Region.
A member of the executive disclosed that signatories to the Mam account benefited when they awarded themselves contracts to renovate the mosques.
“This is what annoyed some of us because we saw abuse when people who did not have companies started having companies and awarded themselves contracts. This is wrong because that money was meant for our brothers in the Northern Region,” said a source.
Information which The Nation has obtained shows that Mam spent the money in under 28 days after being deposited in November, 2001 into a National Bank account number 0141148312700.
On November 5, signatories to the account Ndaila Onani and Salimu Chiuta asked the bank manager for National Bank’s capital city branch in Lilongwe to withdraw K4 million and deposit it in another account.
“Please kindly assist us to withdraw K4 million and put it in a fixed deposit account number 01411483127001...,” reads the letter.
This money, as The Nation found out, was later withdrawn on February 5, 2002 and the interest it gained is yet to be accounted for.
More cheques obtained by The Nation show that Picks & Shovels, Matcho Building Contractors, Timvane Fabrications, Eggs&Nixon; Building Contractors, Yalumaluba Building Contractors are some of the companies that got the contracts to renovate mosques.
Last year, after a delegation of Muslims from the Northern Region complained to former president Bakili Muluzi that they were not receiving their compensation, a task force headed by Salimu Chiuta was formed to look into how the money was managed.
But according to sources, the task force has never released its findings.
On Sunday Chiuta dismissed the allegations that the money was mismanaged and said the contracts were awarded by a committee and not individuals.
“We have already compiled a report which will be presented to the Mam committee explaining how the K10 million was spent. What you should know is that the money was spent not only on mosques in the Northern Region but all over the country,” he said.
Chiuta explained that mosques were either built or renovated in Mzimba, Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Karonga and Mzuzu.
“In Mangochi, eight mosques benefited from the K10 million and also in Lilongwe, Liwonde and Ntcheu. Using the same amount we, as a task force, also spent K341,000 to check on the work in the North and it’s true that some were not completed purely because the money was not enough,” Chiuta explained.
Sunday Mam chairman Sheikh Omar Wochi declined to be drawn into discussing the K10 million and the task force, saying “this has already been discussed.”
“I don’t talk to press, ask our executive secretary Mr Kaondo. He is the right person to speak but what I know is that this matter is closed,” he said.
On why the task force has not handed over the report to Muluzi, Wochi said that the team is still investigating.
Kaondo could not be reached to comment on the allegations.
Mam gets funds from overseas charities like the British based Muslim Aid and locally, through annual rental of K2.1 million and Asian charities within the country.
Government compensated the Muslim communities after the 1999 violent incidents caused extensive damage to mosques and private property. It took government two years to release the funds. |
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