Mabvuto Banda
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Mabvuto Banda | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | The Nation, Inter Press Service, Mail & Guardian Reuters News Agency |
| Title | investigative journalist |
Mabvuto Banda is an investigative journalist from Malawi.[1][2][3] Banda is a well respected journalist in Malawi and on the continent. His writings have been subject of controversy due to a strong stance against corruption and other political exposés. He has been arrested five times due to his work.[4]
Career
He has been a correspondent for many news agencies, including Reuters, ABC News, Inter Press Service. He is a regular correspondent for The Nation.[2]
Some of his major stories was an exposé on a plot by the UDF under President Bakili Muluzi to amend the Constitution to allow him to run for a third term in office.[4] This galvanized civil society to act against this. Banda's work on anti-corruption also led to the arrest of a petroleum firm's CEO on charges of corruption involving US$11 million. He was embezzling millions of dollars into his offshore accounts.[4] Mabvuto is also credited for exposing a corrupt minister of education who abused state funds to finance his wedding. The minister became the first cabinet member to be fired and convicted in democratic Malawi. He also was behind the expulsion of the British high commissioner to Malawi in 2011 when he wrote about a British cable that detailed how Mutharika was being viewed by Western diplomats. The expulsion of the British envoy increasingly pushed Malawi into diplomatic isolation.