Christopher Makileni, government back in court
The case, where former Local government principal secretary (PS) Christopher Makileni is demanding K750 million for unfair dismissal from the government, is back in court on Wednesday after the two sides failed to agree when they tried to settle the matter out of court.
Makileni, through his lawyer Paul Maulidi, wants Attorney General (AG) Chikosa Silungwe, Secretary to the President and Cabinet Zanga-zanga Chikhosi and Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet Janet Banda charged with contempt of court for failing to honour the consent order and directions for the actual payment.
Maulidi, in an interview with The Daily Times, confirmed that negotiations with the government to have Makileni reinstated as PS for Local Government Ministry or be redeployed collapsed.
“We have applied for a declaration that the negotiations aimed at reinstating Makileni to his position of Principal Secretary for Ministry of Local Government or redeploying him to another public institution at the same level as Principal Secretary have collapsed and [been] terminated,” Maulidi said yesterday in a written response.
He also said he wanted the court to order that they enforce the consent judgement of August 4 2020 by way of committal for wilfully failing to pay a regularly obtained court judgement signed by the Attorney General and Makileni’s lawyers.
“I confirm that the application has been set down for hearing on 6th January 2021 at 9.30am before the Deputy Chairperson of Industrial Relations Court,” he said.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Pilirani Masanjala asked for more time to crosscheck the position of the case.
Last year, the Industrial Relations Court awarded Makileni K754 million as compensation for unfair dismissal from the public service.
However, following a public outcry, the government, through the AG, moved to have the matter settled amicably by reinstating Makileni and paying him his dues as a normal employee.
In the consent order between the government and Makileni, the former PS was awarded K216 million in pension, K205 million for loss of motor vehicle use, K269 million for salary before tax and K63 million for fuel as his benefits.
