Flashback: Beware of Fraudsters!

 It has come to the attention of State House that there are some unscrupulous people with criminal minds who are going around posing as top State House aides duping and defrauding members of the public in the name of either arranging meetings with The State President His Excellency Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika or that they have been sent on errands by The Head of State.

Several distinguished members of our society including government officials, have fallen victim to these criminals, losing thousands of kwacha in the process and some of them have been left stranded. The latest incident involved, Rev. Matiya Nkhoma of the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP) who was duped by an unknown man pretending to be a Special Assistant to The President that he has arranged an audience with President Mutharika for him and Paramount Chief Mbelwa VI at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.

Later the criminals, now posing as Chief Mbelwa tricked Rev. Matiya Nkhoma through a phone call, into transferring cash amounting K100 000 (One Hundred Thousand Kwacha) through mobile money transfer for him (Chief Mbelwa) to buy fuel to travel to Lilongwe for the meeting with The President. Several other similar incidences have been reported involving some District Commissioners, Principal Secretaries, Civil Society leaders among others.

State House strongly condemns these unfortunate incidences as pure criminal acts and would like to disassociate State House, most importantly The Head of State from these incidences. State House with the assistance of the Police and other law enforcement agencies is taking seriously these reports and will investigate the incidences as they have the potential to bring into disrepute the name of State House and The President.

Anyone who will be caught in connection with these acts will be prosecuted accordingly. State House wishes to put on the record that its officials or The President’s Aide do not, will not and will never communicate through the phone to arrange a meeting with The President. There are well established channels of communication and procedures to be followed by anyone wishing or asked to meet The Head of State.

We, therefore, appeal to all government officials and all members of the Public to follow these normal channels and to always verify any communication purported to be coming from or related to State House. We urge the public to demand relevant identification documents from anyone claiming to be from State House and to verify with relevant authorities at State House before setting off for State House to meet the President or releasing any valuable materials including cash to unknown people.

Chikondi Juma, Presidential Press Officer
 Kamuzu Palace, Lilongwe