Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) will have to continue operating without a board for now as the appointments which were made recently have been withdrawn following anomalies.
The withdrawn appointments had names such as Bishop Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango as chairperson, Ezaius Mkandawire, Donnex Muva, Apostle Enesia Chitheka, Symon Kamlaka and Deborah Mtopwa as well as three ex-officio members namely secretary responsible for culture, the solicitor general and comptroller of Statutory Corporations.
The Daily Times has learnt that appointments were withdrawn after some of the members had already received letters of appointment.
Kamlaka of the Symon and Kendall fame confirmed that he received the letter of appointment before he was later told that the appointments had been withdrawn; likewise Mhango, who was also a member of the previous board.
Comptroller of Statutory Corporations Peter Simbani said yesterday that the appointments were withdrawn following irregularities.
“There were some anomalies according to the Copyright Act and, so, the minister needs to choose from the list of the names that were nominated during Cosoma’s general assembly,” Simbani said.
He said the anomalies will be rectified and that “very soon” people will be appointed into the Cosoma board.
In June last year, Cosoma held elections where members came up with names to be submitted for appointment into the board and they included Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) President Robert Chiwamba and Mkandawire.
The two outclassed other contestants including former board chairperson Maureen Masamba and another board member Ron Muphuwa.
The other names that made it for consideration as board members after their success during elections last year were musicians Wendy Harawa, Edgar Kachere Anthony Dumba and Deborah Ntopa.
However, these names were not considered in the withdrawn appointments raising lots of queries amongst Cosoma members that politics had come into play as some names such as Mhango flopped during the general assembly elections while Muva and Kamlaka as well as Chitheka were not supposed to be on the list.
“The appointments have been withdrawn because members questioned the move, having noticed that there were names that were not elected during the general assembly.
“Again, the board is supposed to be made up of all the associations according to the Copyright Act but this list was dominated by one association. Let us not put too much politics in these appointments,” an artist, who did not want to be named, said.
But Simbani ruled out politics in the appointments.
Cosoma Executive Director Dora Makwinja said they would be waiting for the government for the new appointments.
“For now, we will just be waiting for the new names,” Makwinja said.
