80 diplomats await posting

Over 80 diplomats appointed under the Tonse Alliance administration are yet to be posted to foreign missions several months after their appointment.

The situation has since rendered some of them destitute, having lost their source of income in anticipation for the new job.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since confirmed the development, attributing the delay to post the new diplomats to lack of funds.

The new diplomats were appointed last year and some of them have been waiting for posting since June 2021, turning their excitement for being appointed to foreign missions into despair.

In separate interviews, eight of the affected diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity, said life has become unbearable due to the delayed posting as they quit their employment for the diplomatic appointment.

Some claim their delayed posting may be an act of sabotage by some officials at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who are “bent to frustrate the current administration”.

“We have been engaging the ministry but to no avail. They know our plight but they just don’t seem concerned. There is a lot of sabotage and indeed the President was right that we need to fix the system.

“In my case, a clearance letter from the host government came a long time ago, but someone had decided to sit on it. That is sabotage,” said one of the diplomats.

Another diplomat said immediately he got the appointment letter, he resigned from his employment as he had hoped to be posted as soon as possible. He has since been waiting for eight months.

 “Immediately after the appointment, we went for orientation and the ministry [Foreign Affairs] processed diplomatic passports for us. I thought we would be posted as soon as possible. But for the past eight months I have to provide for my family yet I have no job. I find this unfair,” said the diplomat, who is also a member of the Tonse lead partner Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

Another diplomat, who is expected to head a mission, said in his case apart from resigning from his job, he withdrew his children from school because he was assured that he would be posted within three months.

 “I saw no reason to pay school fees for the children when I knew I would be leaving soon. And since last year, the children have not been going to school. Someone told me to push hard to be posted.

“But why should we be begging for postings? There is a lot of sabotage at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because there are a lot of ‘cadets’,” he said.

In response to our questionnaire, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson John Kabaghe said they are waiting for funding to have all the diplomats posted.

Asked if there was a criteria used to have some diplomats posted earlier than others, he said the other cause of the delay is that if the position one is earmarked for was vacant at the start of the financial year, it would have no budgetary provision.

Kabaghe said: “If, however, the post had been occupied and, therefore, budgeted for, such that the posting is in effect merely going to be officers swapping, the process is relatively easy and fast, since the funding is already running. It is a technicality rather than criterion.”

Interestingly, while postings are delaying, government has hired, in some cases, people to work on behalf of the diplomats.  One of such cases, according to our sources, is the Johannesburg Consulate where someone has been engaged in an acting capacity as the appointed diplomat awaits to be posted. 

But Kabaghe defended the move, saying another cause for the delay, apart from funding, is that certain positions such as ambassadors, high commissioners, defence attachés, and consul generals, require the receiving State to provide consent for them to be posted to their respective posts. 

 “Malawi Government had to seek an agreement from the South African Government on the proposed appointment of an official to take charge of the mission in the capacity of consular general.

“The receiving government had to do their vetting and thereafter consent was given,” he said.

Kabaghe said after the consent, another process had to take place.

“The South African Government, as per tradition, had to request Malawi Government to provide a letter of commission for the newly appointed consul general. Upon receipt of the letter of commission, and also to complete this particular process, the South African Government issued an exequatur, granting the final authority for the newly appointed consul general to be posted to resume duties.  Meanwhile, the Ministry is now looking at funding issues to effect the posting,” he said.

Treasury spokesperson Williams Banda said they are aware of the challenges the Ministry of Foreign affairs is facing.

He said: “Treasury is aware and critically looking into the matter.”

In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on February 10, President Lazarus Chakwera hinted that the new administration has deployed 166 diplomats to foreign missions out of which 79 have already reported for duties.

This means that 87, as of the day of the Sona, are yet to be posted.