Appointment of a new director general (DG) for the Anti-Coruption Bureau (ACB) is likely to take longer after the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday ordered the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to restart the process of recruiting the DG and disqualify Hillary Chilomba and Oscar Taulo from the race for falling short of legal requirements.
Chilomba is the current acting DG of ACB following the expiry of the contract of the former DG Martha Chizuma on March 31 2024 after serving as the first woman to hold the post while Taulo is a private practice lawyer.
Chilomba. | Nation
Delivering her determination in the matter of alleged irregular and unprocedural steps in the shortlisting and interviewing of the two candidates, Ombudsman Grace Malera said both candidates did not satisfy the professional requirements of the post as required by the law.
“It is evident that both candidates did not meet the professional requirements for attainment of this post; as such, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs should set aside their shortlisting and interview, disqualify them and restart the process,” she said.
Section 6 (5) of the Corrupt Practices Act stipulates that for one to be appointed as DG for the ACB, they should satisfy both academic and professional qualifications in the fields of Law, Law Enforcement and Finance.
According to the job advertisement for the post, applicants were supposed to possess a Master’s Degree in the said fields and 10 years post work experience with five of those years in the senior management or hold a Bachelor’s degree with 15 years of experience with five of them in senior management.
Malera said the advertisement itself was inconsistent with the law because it only emphasized the academic qualifications and did not mention the professional qualification which is another important legal requirement for the post.
“Going by the advert and the law provision, it should mean that the right candidate should have the stated academic papers, should have 10 years work experience for Master’s degree holders and 15 years for Bachelor’s degree holders with the same corresponding number of years belonging to a professional body,” she said.
She said according to the Malawi Law Society (MLS) list of licensed to practice lawyers of 2023/2024, Taulo was admitted to the bar as a practicing lawyer on 18 July 2017 while Chilomba was admitted on 29 March 2017 meaning both fall short of meeting 10 years of professional qualifications.
She, however, said apart from falling short of the professional qualifications, Taulo satisfied all academic qualifications while Chilomba failed to meet one academic requirement which is five years’ work experience at senior management level having only three years, according to his curriculum vitae (CV).
The Ombudsman instituted the investigations in December 2024 after receiving complaint from an anonymous complainants on 22 November 2024 that the shortlisting and interviewing of the two candidates was irregular and unprocedural.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Frank Namangale confirmed receiving the Ombudsman determination but asked for more time to go through it carefully before commenting.
“Yes, I am aware of that but since the determination has just been issued, we need to go through it before we can make any comment,” he said.
Section 6 of the amended Corrupt Practices Act provides that in the event of a vacancy government is supposed to advertise the position and a panel of seven people from diverse sectors shortlist and interview the candidates.
Thereafter names of two to three successful candidates would be forwarded to the President to appoint one who would also be subjected to another interview by the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament.
Government advertised the post on 24 and 26 August 2024 in both the Daily Times and The Nation newspapers and 36 people applied but only 11 including the two were shortlisted and interviewed.
