By Isaac Salima:
Former employees of Shire Bus Company have written the Office of the new Attorney General, reviving their outstanding issue of seeking shareholding claims.
This comes after failed attempts to have the former AG Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda resolve their issues.
The government-owned Shire Bus Company Limited was liquidated in 2007 and, according to the ex-employees, prior to the liquidation, the government owned 85 percent of the company, while the employees held 15 percent of the shares.
The former workers claim that the liquidation process was mishandled, apparently as some assets are still available 18 years after the company was liquidated.
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The ex-employees are seeking 15 percent of the share value related to outstanding assets.
In a communication to AG Frank Mbeta, the ex-workers say they want him to intervene in the matter.
“After liquidation, all employees were paid their terminal benefits (as employees) through the liquidator, who was engaged by the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPP) on behalf of the Malawi Government. The company was deemed non-profit making by the shareholders, hence the decision to liquidate it. Despite being shareholders, employees were neither consulted nor involved in the liquidation process,” the letter reads.
It adds that all company assets were meant to be disposed of through the liquidator’s office but were not.
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The former employees claim that some of the assets that were not disposed of include Makata workshops, Wenela Bus Depot, Lilongwe Bus Stands, Mzimba Depot, Mzuzu workshops and staff houses in Mzuzu, Karonga, Mzimba, Lilongwe and Blantyre.
“As [the] law requires, employees take these as surplus assets which need to be disposed of by selling [them] and [having] the money shared by shareholders,” they claim.
The ex-workers say a formal complaint was sent to the PPPC Chief Executive Officer, who confirmed that they [ex-employees] were rightful beneficiaries in the surplus assets and recommended that the AG handle the matter.
“We have taken this initiative to write to your office again Sir for consideration since it has taken a long time as change of government affects the process in one way or the other because it [the process] starts all over again,” the letter says.
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs spokesperson Frank Namangale confirmed that the AG had received the letter.
“The document is clearly marked ‘private and confidential’ and the Attorney General will address it on that basis,” he said.
In the previous letter to the former AG, the former employees urged the authorities to revalue all surplus assets and pay out the claimed share value of K8.1 billion to approximately 1,200 workers.
The government and the National Bus Company have been in court battling over how the latter took control of the company’s properties, which include houses and depots such as Wenela, Lilongwe, Kasungu and Mzuzu bus depots.
The High Court of Malawi’s Financial and Economic Crimes Division, which was hearing the bus depots case, concluded hearing early last year but is yet to come up with its verdict.
