Minister of Information and Civic Education Brown Mpinganjira (BJ) yesterday claimed that former Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) director general Bright Malopa was fired from the institution by the late Bingu wa Mutharika and not President Joyce Banda.
Mpinganjira’s reaction comes in the wake of our Christmas Day edition story which stated that the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) assessment has put Malopa’s compensation for unfair dismissal at K62.5 million (US$149 164).
Said Mpinganjira: “I want to make it clear that President Joyce Banda did not fire Malopa. It was the former president [Bingu] who removed him from MBC and also appointed the current director general, Dr Benson Tembo.”
However, Banda announced on April 10 2012 that she had appointed Tembo as the director general of MBC.
But Mpinganjira, while admitting that an announcement was made by the President’s administration, pointed out that she only formalised the appointment.
“What happened was that Bingu removed Malopa and appointed Tembo as director general. As he [Mutharika] was about to announce the appointment, he passed on,” said the minister.
However, the Communications Act provides that it is the board of directors of MBC which is an appointing authority for such positions.
Mpinganjira said if Banda had wanted, she could have changed Tembo’s appointment as it was not yet formalised, but that she saw no basis of doing that.
Asked why the court ordered MBC to pay compensation to Malopa if he was already fired, Mpinganjira said he was equally surprised.
“It’s surprising because when Tembo was being appointed, Malopa was at his farm and I am surprised with this huge compensation,” he said.
Mpinganjira also said he was told that MBC was preparing to make some compensation and that Treasury was aware. He however said he did not know that it was this issue.
However, MBC was represented by the Attorney General’s office in the case.
Reacting to Mpinganjira’s remarks, Malopa said it was laughable that “the minister is suggesting that Mutharika rose from the dead to fire him and then died again”.
Said Malopa: “In any case, it is not the business of presidents to hire and fire CEOs of parastatals. That function is the preserve of the boards of directors.”
On the other hand, Tembo yesterday said he had all along thought that it was Banda who appointed him.
“Go back to your records of April 10 [2012] where it was announced that Her Excellency had appointed me. What happened behind the scenes is not something that I can comment on,” said Tembo.
He refused to comment on Malopa’s issue.
Chief Secretary to the Government Hawa Ndilowe did not pick her phone after several attempts. The Nation wanted to crosscheck Mpinganjira’s claim that it was Bingu who appointed Tembo.
Sources disclosed that the court ordered MBC to pay the K62.5 million to Malopa within 14 days and that a garnishee order was obtained after the expiry of the date.
