Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera has stressed the need to clear the rubble now if Malawi is forge ahead with development.

Chakwera was speaking at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe during a special address to the nation. 

During the function Chakwera directed Ministry of Education to conduct investigations on the leakage of MSCE examination papers.

He has also given MANEB one month to remove its top management. 

Chakwera has also directed that the MSCE examination should be conducted by January 2021.

He says students cannot wait for five months for the examination to be conducted. 

Chakwera said he felt anguish at the pace of executing the Tonse Alliance government's collective agreement to clear the rubble from the governance system in order to refurnish it for the task of building a new Malawi.

He said clearing the rubble is something that is not only a functional necessity, but also a matter of national urgency.

He said the necessity and urgency of this is now plain to see from the chaos that has recently ensued at the Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB). 

He said to have several secondary 
school exam papers leaked and the education of thousands of students thrown off course is simply 
unacceptable.

"Whatever the motives, this is clearly a 
deliberate act occasioned by elements of criminality, impunity, and negligence that cannot be allowed to continue. When I say we must clear the rubble, it is important to understand what the rubble is and who is responsible for clearing it.

"Essentially, clearing the rubble means four things. First and foremost, it means removing those from our state institutions who have committed criminal offences."  

Chakwera gave an example of what happened at Malawi Electoral Commission. 

"For example. Both the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeals determined that hundreds of presiding officers 
broke the law in their handling of the 2019 presidential election, and yet today, more than a year after those crimes 
were committed, there is no sign of any of them being prosecuted by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, nor is there any sign that they have been dismissed from the public service. The office bearers responsible for clearing this kind of rubble should not imagine that we as Malawians will relent from calling for the rule of law or that 
we will look the other way," he said.

Chakwera said if any ministry, department, or agency that has this kind of rubble of criminal elements does not produce a corrective action plan by the end of this month: "I will have no choice but to remove those in charge and find people who will get the job done."