APM fires Newby Kumwembe

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has removed secretary to the Treasury (ST) Newby Kumwembe, replacing him with academic Ronald Mangani, Nation on Sunday has learnt.

Confirming the latest casualty in the Mutharika purge, newly appointed Chief Secretary to the Government George Mkondiwa yesterday said Mangani will work with Kumwembe for a certain period as part of a handover process.

“It is true that Mangani has been appointed to replace Kumwembe as Secretary to the Treasury. He will work with Kumwembe for some time,” he said.

Mangani—an economics lecturer at the University of Malawi’s (Unima) Chancellor College since 1994—appears to have little practical public finance management experience, having spent most of his professional life in the intellectual community.

He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Cape Town, an MSc in Economics from the University of York and a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics from the Unima.

Before his teaching at Chanco, he worked at the Malawi Institute of Education.

Mangani, therefore, enters a new territory that has well-documented challenges—and pitfalls.

He is the third ST in less than a year after Kumwembe himself was a beneficiary of Randson Mwadiwa’s firing in October 2013 by former president Joyce Banda at a time public confidence in the Treasury hit lows on the back of Cashgate.

Apart from understanding the treacherous web that is the civil service, the new ST will have to rapidly grasp the complicated architecture that is the Cashgate- ravaged Malawi Public Finance and Economic Management (PFEM) system.

Mangani is also the second ST in recent times to have come outside the core civil service.

In 2010, former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika plucked Joseph Mwanamvekha—currently Minister of Trade and Industry—from State-owned Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) where he was chief executive officer to head Treasury.

As of yesterday, it was not immediately clear what will become of Kumwembe—removed a week after the budget he helped formulate was tabled in Parliament—when the handover period comes to an end.

Mangani’s appointment was greeted with mixed reactions yesterday.

Economic analyst Thomas Munthali described the appointment of Mangani as a ‘good catch’, saying he is a ‘very’ seasoned economist and well respected locally and internationally.

“Sometimes it is good to get somebody outside the system so that he could have an outside angle to the economic perspective. He can be a good change agent,” said Munthali.

But Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokesperson on finance Joseph Njobvuyalema said while he appreciates that anyone can be secretary to the Treasury, it was imperative to have somebody who has experience in working with government.

“I am surprised that they failed to get someone from within the system. It is not all about qualifications, but also experience in how government systems operate. It is also good to pick people from the system as it also motivates those working in government. It is almost blocking those that have served government with dedication,” he said.

Apart from removing the ST, Mutharika’s latest round of firings has also caught up with Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) chief executive officer Jerry Jana.

He has since been replaced by Foster Mulumbe who was the grain trader’s director of finance until 2013 when his contract expired and was released.

Mulumbe confirmed his ascendancy yesterday, saying he has a letter appointing him Admarc CEO from September 1 2014.

“This is not the first time to be at Admarc. I joined Admarc in 1988 from school as a trainee accountant and I have risen through the system until I left on May 31 2013 as director of finance,” he said.

Jana and Kumwembe join several senior public officers that Mutharika has chopped since he assumed power on June 1 2014 despite promising not to sack any technocrat willy-nilly. No reasons are being given so far for the sackings.

Other major figures fired or redeployed since Mutharika’s presidency include Hawa Ndilowe (chief secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, general Henry Odillo (Malawi Defence Force commander ) and his deputy John Msonthi, Nelson Bophani (deputy police chief ), Rezine Mzikamanda (Anti-Corruption Bureau director), Bruno Kalemba (Director of Public Prosecutions), Charles Nsaliwa (Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority director general) and John Biziwick (Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) director general, among others.

Meanwhile, as we went to press yesterday, there were also unconfirmed reports of a second round of shake-ups at MRA where a commissioner and a lawyer were said to have been redeployed to some government departments.

Some critics argue the continued sacking of public sector leaders—especially those with running contracts—is costing government hundreds of millions of kwachas as some will continue to be paid throughout their contract period despite being replaced while others could be paid damages for unfair dismissal.

Coming at a time when government has admitted it has a financial crisis on its hands, with the 2014/15 national budget hosting a huge budget deficit, commentators say prudence needs to be exercised when removing people from office.