Cosoma Board meet ends prematurely
Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) board annual general meeting (AGM) ended abruptly on Thursday at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe after members refused to recognise Bishop Chimwemwe Mhango as board chairperson, citing irregularities in his appointment.
The issue started during last year’s AGM where Mhango, Robert Chiwamba, Izius Mkandawire, Edgar Kachere, Antony Dumba, Wendy Harawa and Deborah Mtopa stood up for election into the board.
Mhango lost while the rest were elected into the board. The winners’ names were sent to the then Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Michael Usi who removed Chiwamba from the board for being a civil servant and brought in Mhango.
Rights Holder Associations spokesperson Maxwell Chiphinga said they were surprised that Mhango was not only incorporated into the board, but also made chairperson.
He said in an interview on Thursday that the membership was not impressed with the decision.
He attributed this to disregard of the proposals by the previous assembly to amend the Cosoma Act to address issues that arose following Mhango’s appointment.
He said: “We requested for a special committee to be created to look at the proposal to amend the Cosoma Act. Among other things, we wanted procedures for replacing people who are nominated to be in the board.
“We also wanted to merge the AGMs into one and also look at the representation in the board. The membership is not pleased that all the things we discussed and agreed did not form part of the previous meeting.”
Chiphanga said the initial mistake was the wrong advice to the minister on who to replace Chiwamba with. He said ordinarily, the minister was supposed to consult the assembly and let them make fresh nominations for the board.
When called, Mhango said he was in a meeting and asked to be contacted after some hours. Cosoma executive director Dora Salamba said Mhango remains the board chairperson as he has not been removed.
