Ex-Macra boss wants K600m compensation
Former Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) director general Charles Nsaliwa is demanding K603 million in compensation from the entity for constructive dismissal in 2014.
The compensation claim comes after the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) ruled on April 14 2020 that Nsaliwa was unfairly dismissed when he was removed from his position and redeployed to Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture in August 2014 as technical adviser without being consulted.
According to the judgement of the IRC Case Number 24 of 2015, Nsaliwa refused to pick up the position on the premise that his removal was unlawful and tantamount to constructive dismissal.
Following the ruling, Nsaliwa’s lawyers Dowell & Jones wrote Macra through the institution’s lawyers Mbendera and Nkhono Associates on April 15 2020, demanding K665 965 063.32 in compensation.
The IRC had ordered that from whatever amount that is agreed, money totalling K62 915 632.50—which was salary that Nsaliwa received from the day he was dismissed to the end of the contract on December 8 2015—should be deducted.
Nsaliwa was appointed Macra director general in December 2009.
When the received salary is deducted, Nsaliwa expects to get K603 million from Macra.
In its determination, the IRC found that government wrongfully removed Nsaliwa was dismissed to the end of the contract on December 8 2015—should be deducted.
Nsaliwa was appointed Macra director general in December 2009.
When the received salary is deducted, Nsaliwa expects to get K603 million from Macra.
In its determination, the IRC found that government wrongfully removed Nsaliwa from his position as director general for Macra despite Macra arguing in its defence that Nsaliwa was not dismissed, but rather “re-deployed”, which enabled him to continue getting a salary; hence, no need for further compensation.
But the IRC judgement reads in part: “It is not in dispute that the applicant never applied for a job in the Ministry of Information, nor was he consulted about his transfer to the Ministry. Therefore, in our agreed view, the applicant should be awarded compensation and severance allowance for the constructive dismissal.
“To say the least, that amounts to unfair labour treatment. We find that the termination of his employment was triggered by the respondent’s acts and we find that acts of the respondents were unreasonable and unfair to the applicant.”
The court also said employment or work is not about salary alone as it is important to one’s life because things such as self-esteem and value as well as psychological matters come into play; hence, its decision for Nsaliwa to be awarded compensation for the constructive dismissal.
Mbendera and Nkhono Associates, acting on behalf of Macra, have since suggested to their client in a letter that the matter of damage assessment be resolved out of court.
Reads in part the letter: “The court has also set this matter for assessment of compensation on 11th June 2020 at 11:00am. If your instructions will be that the assessment should be done in court, and not out of court, we propose that we should meet a person familiar with this matter for a per-assessment briefing.”
In an interview on Sunday, Macra Board chairperson the Reverend Alex Maulana said it was sad that the institution will lose huge sums of money on the compensation.
He said: “The matter will still go for assessment, and we are waiting to hear from our legal advisers on this. As an institution, we should not be losing such amounts. We now need to sit down and look at what went wrong so that these things do not happen again.”
On his part, legal pundit Sunduzwayo Madise said the situation is regrettable, suggesting the need for the Office of Ombudsman to be cracking its whip on individuals that deliberately breach the law leading to such compensations.
He said: “The Ombudsman needs to take these people to task, those that make these decisions. I can assure you that people make decisions and say they are acting on behalf of government, who is government?
“If they are doing it for government, then they must do things that are correct at law. Mr. Nsaliwa is asking for K600 million, but who is going to pay that? What would that money buy in hospital drugs? How much can it pay for in secondary school or university?”
The Nsaliwa issue comes at a time government—through the Controller of Statutory Corporations—has “re-deployed” two parastatal chief executives by swapping them.
In a letter The Nation has seen, Comptroller of Statutory Corporations Stuart Ligomeka wrote the Macra Board on May 26 2020 that “government has re-deployed Mr. Henry Shamu, the director general for the Malawi Postal Corporation [MPC] to [Macra] and Mr. Godfrey Itaye, the director general of [Macra] to MPC where they will both serve as director generals with immediate effect.
Itaye was also earlier transferred from MPC to Macra in a swap with then Macra director general Andrew Kumbatira.
