The future of Dr Salmin Umar Idruss as a Secretary General of Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) is uncertain if what have been revealed by acting Secretary General Twaibu Lawe is anything to go by.
In an interview with Malawi Muslims Official Website, the acting secretary general said that Dr Salmin’s re-instatement will depend on the completion of the investigations.
“We have suspended him so that we can have our own investigations and find out who really went to police to allege that there are problems at MAM. Once the investigations are over and he has been proved that he is innocent he will be re-instated on his position,” said Lawe.
Last month secretary general of MAM Dr Salmin Omar Idruss was suspended on allegations that he went to police and report that the MAM chairman sheikh Muhammad Idrissa is involved in money laundering and that he should get arrested. This was followed by a letter from Blantyre fiscal police which was addressed to the secretariat of Muslim Association of Malawi on the money laundering allegations at MAM headquarters.
Since the letter didn’t mention any name, the MAM Board of trustees called for the meeting where they agreed to send other officials to the police instead of Dr Salmin who is the Secretary General after suspecting that it could be his planned move to get the Chairman arrested following their recent misunderstandings on the MAM’s recent donations from Kuwait and upcoming elections.
MAM has new donors, Islamic Heritage Society from Kuwait who have put much of their trust in the Chairman Sheikh Idrissa Muhammad because of his ‘accountability and ethical responsibility’ to them on the projects they have done together so far. These include Poultry farming currently in progress at Gada Farm, response to the recent Malawi’s devastating floods, borehole drilling among others.
When the date to go to police came, the delegation sent by the trustees led by the acting SG said was surprised to find Dr Salmin Omar already there despite being told not go which further created a lot of suspicions that he might be behind the move.
Later, the board of trustees summoned the embattled secretary general to explain the reasons behind his decision to go against the verdict by the trustees but the sheikh did not turn-up for that meeting. The trustees then resolved to suspend him.
However, in his remarks, Dr Idruss has said that trustees were wrong to suspend him and suspects something fishy
“Police officers summoned me as the secretary general so I was the one to delegate not anyone else. And as far as I am concerned there were no minutes or what so ever written document that I should not go there. The money laundering is involving MAM which am the secretary general. In this case am also automatically the suspect. I wonder then how the trustees rushed to suspend me when the chairman and I are suspects of the fraud. They should have let the police to do their job because the chairman or I could be found guilty. Why then did the trustees rushed to suspend me alone?” Salmin wondered.
However Dr Salmin thinks that the action by the trustees to suspend him is because of his interest to compete for the chairmanship at the Muslim mother body during the next year’s elections.
“Is it a crime for me to declare my interest to contest as the chairman?” he wondered.
When contacted to answer the allegations chairperson of the board of trustees’ sheikh Allie Kennedy said that he had “no comment”
Recently, Muslim Association Malawi didn’t include the suspended secretary to the presidential interface’s delegation that took place at Sanjika palace where religious leaders had a meeting with the state president Peter Mutharika in Blantyre on Thursday. Muslims were represented by the Chairman Muhammad Idrissa and the acting Secretary General Twaibu Lawe.
Dr Salmin once worked as the presidential advisor on Islamic affairs during the late president Bingu Wa Mutharika first term of office between 2004-09.
