President Dr. Joyce Banda returns to Malawi in October 2013 after a trip to the United States. Image from the Facebook Page of Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda. On the night of Friday September 13, 2013, Paul Mphwiyo, Budget Director in Malawi's Ministry of Finance, was shot. Armed men were lying in ambush just outside the gate to his home, and fired at the 37-year-old as he drove in. Mphwiyo's family rushed him to the Area 43 MASM Clinic. It was 11:30 p.m. I happened to be at the clinic at the same time with a family member who was hospitalised. I witnessed first-hand the harrowing 30-minute frenzy during which nurses and a doctor battled to save Mphwiyo's life. Mphwiyo staggered into the clinic, choking, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The nurses put a call through to Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba, formerly personal physician to the late Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the country's first president. Dr. Ntaba got there in less than ten minutes. He managed to assuage Mphwiyo's bleeding and stabilise his breathing. 30 minutes later, an ambulance transported Mphwiyo to the emergency department at Kamuzu Central Hospital. The following day he was flown for specialised treatment to South Africa, where he is reportedly in stable condition. Malawi's president, Dr. Joyce Banda, announced at a public function the following afternoon that she knew who had shot Mphwiyo, and why. Accounts of the incident, purportedly written by insiders at the Ministry of Finance, began appearing online, claiming that Mphwiyo had been shot as a result of a multi-million Malawian kwacha (MWK) deal gone bad. “Flash: A senior Malawi treasury official has been shot,” tweeted journalist Mabvuto Banda. “Family says he has been receiving death threats since he cancelled dubious payment.” Flash: A senior Malawi treasury official has been shot. Family says he has been receiving death threats since he cancelled dubious payment — mabvuto banda (@bvutoB) September 14, 2013 President Banda left soon after for the United States, for engagements in Texas and the UN General Assembly in New York, but in Malawi the focus remained on Capital Hill, the seat of government. People began making connections between the Mphwiyo attack and an incident involving Patrick Sithole, an accounts assistant in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. On September 11, 2013, two days before the attack, Sithole was reported by Malawi News Agency (MANA) and The Daily Times to have been found in possession of more than 120 million MWK (350,000 US dollars) cash and a brand new Toyota Fortuner. The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) had carried the Sithole story on September 11's 8pm news bulletin, but it didn't appear in subsequent rebroadcasts. The story also disappeared from the MANA website. For two days there was no follow-up, apart from expressions of shock on social media. Then came the shooting of Paul Mphwiyo, which, in the weeks that followed, unleashed a string of stories about Capital Hill civil servants found with massive quantities of cash in their cars and houses. In the days following the Mphwiyo shooting, reports of further looting and arrests came fast and furious, among them the case of Frank Mwanza, an assistant accountant in the Office of the President and Cabinet who made payments of over 1 billion MWK (2.7 million US dollars) to a company that had no contract with the government, but is said to be connected to a prominent cabinet minister and loyalist of President Banda's People's Party. The same reports linked Mwanza and a principal secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet to an additional 120 million MWK (350,000 US dollars) found in the car trunk of the owner of the company in question. Cartoonist's impression of the looting. Photo Credit: Nation Publications Limited Since she took over as president following the death of Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012, Dr. Joyce Banda Banda has become an international star, attracting global leaders to Malawi including Hillary Clinton, Christine LaGarde, Helen Clark, Mary Robinson, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. She has openly praised international donors, whom she credits with turning the country around. On October 3, 2013, heads of several international donor agencies summoned Vice President Khumbo Kachale, Chief Secretary to the Government, Hawa Ndilowe, and Inspector General of Police, Lot Dzonzi, expressing “worry” over the reports of the plunder of public funds. “As the civil servants are busy looting government coffers in millions, their CEO is busy meeting different donors in the USA seeking more money to support her porous government system,” wrote Economist and business entrepreneur Henry Kachaje on his Facebook page.