Tony Blair's Africa Governance Initiative rushed into Malawi soon after Joyce Banda's rise to the presidency. Tony Blair's presence at the Lilongwe state house was regarded as an important goodwill gesture. Malawi's first and Africa's second female president could only benefit from the governance expertise of Blair's organisation.
Eighteen months later as Malawians continue to suffer hardship in the wake of the biggest corruption and financial mismanagement scandal ever recorded, Blair has pulled out of Malawi amid allegations that Banda may have paid the former British PM millions of taxpayer money for governance consultancy and advisory services. Three weeks ago, as pressure continued to mount on Banda's administration regarding her failure to deal effectively with the corruption scandal now christened "Cashgate", the former British PM announced he had severed all his ties with President Banda.
Newspaper reports published in Malawi allege that the payments made by Banda to Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative were made illegally as they were made outside the budget and without the approval of the parliament. In Malawi, Banda has come under fire from critics and civil society for not disclosing to Malawians the exact nature of Blair's presence in Malawi. Many are also worried that this impoverished southern African country's empty coffers may have paid the former British PM such huge sums of money, reported to be in excess of $5m when all along, Malawians have been made to believe that Blair's presence in the country was a charitable act.
the Malawi government signed a contract with Tony Blair as an individual to be advising the Malawian leader on regular basis. The reports further claim that some of Blair's staff working under the AGI were placed in the Malawi president's office for regular monitoring of performance and evaluation of progress, and to play an advisory role in the absence of the former British PM. Additionally, it is alleged that Blair and the AGI staff, operating from the president's office in Lilongwe had access to the Malawian leader 24 hours through telephone and that face-to-face appointments with the president needed to be guaranteed to the Blair team at short notice.
According to the allegations, at least eight payments were made from the Malawi treasury at various points in 2012, just months after Banda took over the presidency. The Malawi government was paying Blair through various banks accounts in the names of "the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI)", "Tony Blair Associates", "Windrush Ventures" and "Firerush Ventures". All the payment details were referenced to Blair's operating office addresses: PO Box 60519, London W2 7JU (Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, Central London.)
Blair's office, as well as the official spokesperson for AGI, released separate statements categorically denying receiving any payments from the Malawi government and insisting that Blair's presence in Malawi was humanitarian, and the presence of the AGI in Malawi was only for charitable purposes.
Nevertheless, Malawians are still left wondering what really were the interests of Blair in Malawi, considering that he appeared on the scene claiming that he would offer governance advice, and that it was during his watch that the Cashgate scandal has been exposed. Could it be that Blair, having allegedly been paid millions to advice on governance, a task he has demonstrably failed to do, is now deserting Malawi at a time when Malawi needs his advice the most? A growing number of people in Malawi now believe that Blair knew about the high level corruption, fraud and looting and that his only interest in Malawi was financial exploitation.
Nevertheless, Malawians are still left wondering what really were the interests of Blair in Malawi, considering that he appeared on the scene claiming that he would offer governance advice, and that it was during his watch that the Cashgate scandal has been exposed. Could it be that Blair, having allegedly been paid millions to advice on governance, a task he has demonstrably failed to do, is now deserting Malawi at a time when Malawi needs his advice the most? A growing number of people in Malawi now believe that Blair knew about the high level corruption, fraud and looting and that his only interest in Malawi was financial exploitation.
From AlJazeera
Eighteen months later as Malawians continue to suffer hardship in the wake of the biggest corruption and financial mismanagement scandal ever recorded, Blair has pulled out of Malawi amid allegations that Banda may have paid the former British PM millions of taxpayer money for governance consultancy and advisory services. Three weeks ago, as pressure continued to mount on Banda's administration regarding her failure to deal effectively with the corruption scandal now christened "Cashgate", the former British PM announced he had severed all his ties with President Banda.
Newspaper reports published in Malawi allege that the payments made by Banda to Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative were made illegally as they were made outside the budget and without the approval of the parliament. In Malawi, Banda has come under fire from critics and civil society for not disclosing to Malawians the exact nature of Blair's presence in Malawi. Many are also worried that this impoverished southern African country's empty coffers may have paid the former British PM such huge sums of money, reported to be in excess of $5m when all along, Malawians have been made to believe that Blair's presence in the country was a charitable act.
the Malawi government signed a contract with Tony Blair as an individual to be advising the Malawian leader on regular basis. The reports further claim that some of Blair's staff working under the AGI were placed in the Malawi president's office for regular monitoring of performance and evaluation of progress, and to play an advisory role in the absence of the former British PM. Additionally, it is alleged that Blair and the AGI staff, operating from the president's office in Lilongwe had access to the Malawian leader 24 hours through telephone and that face-to-face appointments with the president needed to be guaranteed to the Blair team at short notice.
According to the allegations, at least eight payments were made from the Malawi treasury at various points in 2012, just months after Banda took over the presidency. The Malawi government was paying Blair through various banks accounts in the names of "the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI)", "Tony Blair Associates", "Windrush Ventures" and "Firerush Ventures". All the payment details were referenced to Blair's operating office addresses: PO Box 60519, London W2 7JU (Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, Central London.)
Blair's office, as well as the official spokesperson for AGI, released separate statements categorically denying receiving any payments from the Malawi government and insisting that Blair's presence in Malawi was humanitarian, and the presence of the AGI in Malawi was only for charitable purposes.
Nevertheless, Malawians are still left wondering what really were the interests of Blair in Malawi, considering that he appeared on the scene claiming that he would offer governance advice, and that it was during his watch that the Cashgate scandal has been exposed. Could it be that Blair, having allegedly been paid millions to advice on governance, a task he has demonstrably failed to do, is now deserting Malawi at a time when Malawi needs his advice the most? A growing number of people in Malawi now believe that Blair knew about the high level corruption, fraud and looting and that his only interest in Malawi was financial exploitation.
Nevertheless, Malawians are still left wondering what really were the interests of Blair in Malawi, considering that he appeared on the scene claiming that he would offer governance advice, and that it was during his watch that the Cashgate scandal has been exposed. Could it be that Blair, having allegedly been paid millions to advice on governance, a task he has demonstrably failed to do, is now deserting Malawi at a time when Malawi needs his advice the most? A growing number of people in Malawi now believe that Blair knew about the high level corruption, fraud and looting and that his only interest in Malawi was financial exploitation.
From AlJazeera
4 comments:
Socialist Banner received this anonymous comment that for some reason failed to appear.
I am posting this from Malawi.
This story was been taken from the website of Al Jazeera, who now say:
"This article has been removed as it did not meet Al Jazeera's editorial standards."
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/africa-false-prophet-cashgate-forces-tony-blair-out-malawi-201411894318881948.html
Read your article carefully. Not once does Ntata name the source(s) of the various allegations which he lists. This is typical of the propaganda that he churns out. He has a definite hate for the current administration and it is in his interest to try to ensure that it does not get back into power after the elections in May. Ntata is/was in the UK, and is wanted back in Malawi to answer charges that he participated in illegaly preventing Joyce Banda taking over the presidency when the incumbent Bingu Mutharika died ~April 2012. When it was clear that JB would be taking over, then Ntata disappeared toot sweet from Malawi.
If Ntata has issues with the current administration in Malawi then he should find the strength and courage to fight it back here and in the local media. Weakling that he is, he should stop snivelling to foreigners to help him out.
BTW: I am not a JB apologist; I will not be voting for her in May.
We can only accept that the poster of the comment is more informed on Malawi developments than ourselves and is correct.
We apologise for any inaccuracy in the facts but we decline to apologise to a capitalist political head of state or an ex head of state. Blair's commitment to profits is clearly reported here
http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2014/01/tonys-coffers.html
Ho Hum:
I am not sure why my blogger name did not appear. I was signed into Google at the time. Maybe I got the Captcha thingie wrong
I am Peter Nkosi, from Malawi.
The main reason for posting my comment was to point out that Ntata's article is based on unsubstantiated, anonymous media reports. He writes frequently in this vein. I suggest that the local media reports to which he refers have been planted by himself.
Natata's article has now been withdrawn by MaraviPost, a Malawian on-line publication.
"Article has been removed following same action taken by Al Jazeera' the Original Publisher. While This article was written by an author we have published in the past and will continue to do so in the Future We felt this was the proper action to take at this time."
See
http://www.maravipost.com/malawi-bloggers/blogger-list/85-allan-ntata/5258-africa-s-false-prophet-cashgate-forces-tony-blair-out-of-malawi.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10551007/Tony-Blair-quits-as-adviser-to-Malawis-president.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10470359/Tony-Blair-faces-questions-over-Malawi-scandal.html
Yes, I was aware of those two articles in the Telegraph.
You and I have different reasons for posting here. I suspect that you are a critic of Tony Blair, but me, I do not care about him, and nothing which I write here should be taken as me defending him. However, I AM a critic of Allen Ntata, who hoovers up bits & pieces off the internet, invents other bits and pieces, and then weaves fairy stories from them all. The deleted Al Jazeera article is just a propaganda blog from con-artist Ntata, not a credible article from a credible journalist.
Let me clarify something in my earlier post. When I wrote that Ntata's article is based on unsubstantiated, anonymous media reports I was referring to Malawian media reports, not the Telegraph articles.
The Telegraph articles say two things which are true separately:
1. Tony Blair is finishing up in Malawi.
2. There is a big corruption scandal in Malawi.
Nowhere in the two articles is there any evidence that those two things are connected. Perhaps they are, but no evidence is given, only speculation and insinuation.
Irrelevantly I will point out that one of the articles states:
"There is no evidence Mrs Banda ... is involved in embezzlement."
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