By Cathy Maulidi:
Amid a turbulent week at Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) following the suspension of two of its top executives, it has emerged that the organisation is under the probe of Ombudsman following alleged irregular hiring of two directors.
The two are Gregory Gamula and Maxon Chitawo who are said to have been hired without any interviews.
According to sources, the two were appointed by the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) Principal Secretary (PS), Blessings Chilabade, in February this year.
However, some concerned individuals have reported the matter to the Ombudsman alleging unfair practices by Egenco management and its board.
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According to our contacts, Egenco is a limited company and therefore the appointment was not supposed to come from the DHRMD.
“The appointment should have come from the Board Chairperson of Egenco who is Colleen Zamba and not the PS in DHRMD or delegated to the Comptroller as a person who is responsible for statutory corporations but in this case it came from the PS in DHRMD who is responsible for operations of government departments in government and not a limited company.
“What they have done here is as if Egenco is a department in government. This is typical infringement of operations of Egenco.
“Even if the appointment came from the board chair, normally it was supposed to be brought before the board for ratification because the chair on her own cannot appoint a director. So this is just from abuse of power,” said one of our sources in the government system.
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At present, the Office of the Ombudsman has written Egenco requesting for some information on the matter after the complaint.
“Please be advised that our office is in receipt of a complaint alleging unfair practice by your office.
“Kindly note that under Section 123 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi and Section 5 of the Ombudsman Act (Cap 3:07 of the Laws of Malawi), this office has the mandate to investigate cases of alleged injustice, abuse of power, unfair treatment and unreasonable unfair and unjust discharge of duty by any public officer or public office.
“We are writing you in pursuant of this mandate, to accordingly serve you with notice of investigations by this office into the allegations outlined herein,” reads the Ombudsman’s letter to Egenco.
According to the letter, the allegations made by an anonymous complainant alleges that following the expiry of contracts for Director of Operations and Director of Planning and Development in December 2022, management appointed Steven Kayira as acting Director for Planning and Development and Blessings Phariwa as acting Director of Operations on February 7, 2023.
In the same month, on February 28, 2023 management announced the appointment of two new directors.
The complainant further alleges that, the two new directors, namely Gamula and Chitawo were handpicked by the board and management because management did not at any conduct interviews.
The complainant believes that the appointment of the two directors did not follow the stipulated 2018 Recruitment and Selection Policy for Egenco.
“Pursuant to Section 124 of the Republic of Malawi Constitution, and in light of the foregoing, this office would like to solicit your comprehensive response on the allegation above,” reads the Ombudsman’s letter.
The Ombudsman charges Egenco to provide information as follows:
- The background to the secondment of Gamula and Maxon Chitawo.
- How Gamula and Chitawo were identified as the most suitable, the stipulated procedure for handling of secondment of staff and actual procedure and process that was followed in this case, the provisions of MPSR on the payment of salary and benefits for officers who are on secondment and whether the terms of Gamula and Chitawo are in compliance with the provisions of the MPSR.
When contacted to comment on the allegations, Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza requested for a questionaire which he said would require more time to be responded to.
Chitawo said he wasn’t in the right place to respond on the matter and he referred us to acting Human Resource Director for Egenco, Alexander Dzimba.
Dzimba said he wouldn’t know whether the appointment on secondment is irregular or not.
“We received the communication from the Ombudsman and it was addressed to the CEO. The two directors being referred to were seconded to Egenco; the other one is from Mzuni and the other one is from Mubas. If you ask me whether that was irregular or not, I may not know. If you seek proper clarification talk to government,” he said.
Chilabade did not pick our calls and spokesperson for the department Ken Ntonga also requested for more time to check with him.
Board Chairperson for Egenco Colleen Zamba, through her spokesperson, Robert Kalindiza said the two were appointed to boost capacity at Egenco.
Without going into details of the appointment processes, Kalindiza said: “Her [Zamba’s] response is that the officers in question are public servants and have been seconded for a year to help boost capacity.”
The matter comes to light barely a week after government suspended Egenco Chief Executive Officer William Liabunya and Director of Corporate Services and Company Secretary Videlia Mluwira.
A circular announcing the suspension of the two said they had been sent on forced leave pending outcome of forensic audit that the government has instituted.
It also announced Chitawo as acting Chief Executive Officer.
