A former cabinet minister who was serving a five-year sentence after being found guilty of abusing his position has been pardoned by Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera.
In 2020, Uladi Mussa received a six-year prison term for corruption related to the unauthorized issuance of passports.
According to Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, minister of homeland security, his release was a kindness gesture over the Easter season.
From 1994 and 2019, Mr. Mussa served as a minister under four different presidents, and he is still a powerful politician in the nation.
He was involved in the passport scam when former President Joyce Banda was in office.
Due to his involvement in the controversy, the US government issued a travel restriction against him and his spouse in 2019.
Together with 199 other prisoners who “committed minor infractions and displayed excellent behavior during their term in prison,” Mr. Mussa was freed.
One of them was a driver who, the year before, was charged and imprisoned for refusing to yield to President Chakwera’s motorcade.
