Malawi's former information minister convicted of stealing donated computers

By Moses Michael-Phiri

LILONGWE, Malawi (AA) - Two former senior officials in Malawi were convicted Tuesday of stealing donated computers.

Former Information Minister Henry Mussa and former Director of Information Gideon Munthali failed to convince the court that they had kept a total of 10 government computers and a power generator in their homes for safe keeping, said Judge Patrick Chirwa

Neither had ever "surrendered the computers and generator to the ministry but also did not produce a report to account for the items," Chirwa said of the two officials from the previous administration of President Peter Mutharika.

The judge added that the minister had ill intentions as he kept the generator for 15 months until it was found by police.

The court went ahead to convict the two and adjourned the matter to a later date for sentencing.

Mussa and Munthali were arrested in September 2020 on allegations that they stole computers and a power generator belonging to the Ministry of Information.

The equipment was donated from the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority.

However, the two are suspected of having diverted the donation for their personal use, with police later recovering some of the items.