The High Court in Blantyre has reinstated Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) director of human resources and administration Chrispin Banda who on November 17 2025 was seconded to the Malawi School of Government (MSG) as a lecturer.
This comes barely five days after another High Court Judge Allan Muhome on December 24 2025 reinstated Kamkwamba Kumwenda as Escom chief executive officer.
In addition to Banda and Kumwenda’s secondment to Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, government also seconded Escom chief operations officer Maxwell Mulimakwenda to teach at Mzuzu University (Mzuni).
In her determination on Banda’s application, High Court Judge Edna Bodole also granted him permission to apply for the review of the defendant’s decision.
Reads the determination: “Orders that the defendant’s decision made on November 17 2025 be and is hereby stayed with the result that until the hearing and determination of the application for judicial review or until a further order of the court.
“The status quo ante [the previously existing state of affairs] preceding the impugned decision of the defendant remains and the claimant [should] be treated by all, including the cited party, as though the defendant’s impugned decision was never made.”
In his application through lawyer Bentry Nyondo of Ritz Attorneys at Law, Banda argued that his employment with Escom is contractual and based on that contract, he only reports to the Escom Board.
As such, Banda argued that the defendant, Chief Secretary to the Office of President and Cabinet, is not privy to his three-year contract, which ends in January 2028.
Reads the application in part: “He is not a civil servant so as to become subject to the authority and direction of the defendant and be liable to the secondment envisaged under Regulation 1: 176 (1) of the MPRS 1995.
“In view of the clear terms of the regulation, which only applies to civil servants’ secondments within the civil service, the claimant’s secondment by the defendant is marred with bad faith as it is not supported by law or any pressing necessity for the claimant, who has no teaching experience whatsoever, to go and teach at MSG.”
The lawyer also argued that the Chief Secretary’s decision seconding Banda to MSG to teach has affected him adversely as he has no teaching experience and considers his employment terminated.
Said Nyondo in an interview yesterday: “The rule of law will certainly not allow the Secretary to the Cabinet to behave like a bull which disregards herbs, shrubs and creepers. The holder of such office, which is a creature of the Constitution, can and must only exercise lawful authority.”
Yesterday, Attorney General Frank Mbeta said government will challenge both stay orders.
He said: “I have not yet received [the Banda stay order], but will challenge it in court. For Escom CEO, documents challenging the orders will be filed in court tomorrow [today].”
Besides Kumwenda, CEOs for Central Region Water Board, Blantyre Water Board and Southern Region Water Board—John Makwenda, Robert Hanjahanja and Duncan Chambamba, respectively—were also seconded to lecture at Mubas.
Northern Region Water Board and Electricity Generation Company CEOs Francis Munthali and Maxon Chitawo respectively, alongside Mulimakwenda, were seconded to teach at Mzuzu University.
Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board CEO Prince Phwetekere, who was seconded to teach at Domasi College of Education, twice refused to go and has since been suspended.
Earlier, labour law expert Mauya Msuku said while there is no one-size-fits all answer, generally, such redeployments amount to unfair labour practices.
He said: “If someone wants to teach, they know academic institutions. Look, getting the same salary or benefits does not suffice, because the environment, job description, level of making decisions, hierarchy, all changes.”
Mzuni economics lecturer Christopher Mbukwa feared that taxpayers will now be digging deeper to pay for government’s recourse to deploy on secondment several CEOs of State agencies to public universities as lecturers amid austerity measures.
