#IStandWithMartha has been a trending hashtag on social media – on Twitter, Facebook & WhatsApp statuses. It has been a trend to share the #IStandWithMartha. If you ask me, at par with the BBC onslaught. You were seen as less patriotic, I mean less Malawian for not sharing some expletives directed at BBC. Similarly, not posting #IStandWithMartha and her photo set you as a disciple of Sattar and a friend of Kezzie Msukwa.

However, I think we should all rejoice at that leak. I don’t think the reaction would have been the same if the leak was Sattar’s. There would have been a national holiday. No professor of law would have condemned the “whistleblower”. Even if such a leak did not have anything incriminating. Why do I say the leak is a wake up call? Personally, I strongly believe public officials and anyone who occupies an influential position like Martha Chizuma does need to always be on their toes – at all times. With that leak, Martha clearly did not. If she had any, she let her guard down.

Some have already highlighted, and I agree with them, that Ms Chizuma did not share anything that STRONGLY compromises her position. As such, as I have written elsewhere, she does not deserve the firing whip – not that she would resign anyway or Chakwera has it in him to fire her had it been she had shared something that would compromise the integrity and credibility of her position – ask Kezzie Msukwa.

Rather, she has highlighted two things that I believe deserve our serious attention than what the #IStandWithMartha [hashtag] is getting.

Firstly, the audio alleges that President Lazarus Chakwera hasn’t been supportive. Chakwera rose to prominence because of his commitment to fight corruption. But Martha’s leaked audio exposes the other side of Chakwera that explains why he is yet to fire Kezzie Msukwa despite a warrant of arrest looming on the minister’s head.

In layman’s term, Martha Chizuma implies in her leaked audio that Chakwera is not as committed to the fight of corruption. This calls for concerted public pressure on Chakwera. The rhetoric is redundant now. Walk the Talk Mr President. Support Martha NOW! Ms Chizuma needs the much needed presidential support and one which could start with the firing of Kezzie Msukwa. Failing which means Martha Chizuma is right and Chakwera lied to Malawians that he is the seer we could count on to give corruption the boot.

Secondly, Chizuma made a very serious allegation against some members of the judiciary. A name or two were [subtly] dropped. The burden now falls on the Judicial Service Commission to set up an internal investigation to examine the validity of the allegations she makes against members of the colonial white wigs. If this is not done, how credible can the public make of the whole judiciary and some of the judgements – particularly the ones that have raised eyebrows?

Remember the Thom Mpinganjira case? A magistrate issued a midnight bail. Venue: Zomba. Kezzie Msukwa’s attorneys are said to have travelled all the way to Zomba for an injunction against the ACB’s warrant of arrest for Msukwa. This is the case that directly connects to a case that Chizuma alleges an accused person was bailed out because a judge/magistrate was palm-oiled by the accused. Will the Judicial Service Commission sweep her allegations under the rug? Hope not. Should we just focus on I stand with Martha without demanding action from the Judicial Commission? Certainly not. She even cried for what can be construed to be judicial activism.

Lastly, Ms Martha Chizuma also alleges that there is a sea of corrupt lawyers and that it is nearly impossible to find one clean grain of sand on the beach. But that is a place for the Malawi Law Society to act. If her allegations have conclusive evidence, then her office and MLS should work together and act as a matter of yesterday.

I MUST Highlight that I wrote this blog a couple of hours before President Lazarus Chakwera’s speech last night in which he dissolved the whole cabinet and promised not to retain Msukwa. In his speech, Mr Chakwera described Chizuma’s remarks in her leaked audio as painful and embarrassing warranting her dismissal. The President said he chose to retain Chizuma against all legal advice given to him.

In his written speech which leaked immediately after the broadcast, Chakwera is said to have put Chizuma under disciplinary action. It is yet to be established whether that is a direction the President will take. But if this is true then the whole speech that Chakwera is retaining Chizuma is just a facade. She will be an island without his support. And might as well be fired soon.

Conspicuously missing in his speech is the President’s call to both the Judicial Service Commission and Malawi Law Society to establish the credibility of the two heinous allegations that Chizuma made which are at the hub of my blog. By the way, President Chakwera authenticated the leak – if you were still in doubt.