Ombudsman Martha Chizuma has announced that her office will investigate all councils for financial mismanagement and abuse of office.

The announcement follows an audit in March, by the National Audit Office (NAO), which revealed that councils failed to account for almost K5.9 in June 2018 fiscal year. The audit report was presented to Parliament, exposing how the funds may have been abused, like payment vouchers that were not submitted for audit. Failure to provide other documents for audit inspection was also noted by the audit.

The accumulated missing 5.9bn is has been misused by these councils; Blantyre, Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Zomba, along with municipal councils Luchenza and Kasungu and 28 district councils, not to mention Mangochi town council.

According to the Ombudsman, the abuse of office has led to deprivation of essential services. “In some cases, construction of classrooms stopped because there was no money, the money had been stolen,” she said.

She said the probe will date back from 2014 to 2019 and she could not give a time frame as to when it will end, saying this is the first time her office has embarked on such a complex mission.