Govt ordered to pay Brian Banda K103m

The Industrial Relations Court (IRC) has ruled that broadcaster Brian Banda be compensated with K103 million as damages for dismissal from his job as State House presidential press secretary.

But Attorney General’s spokesperson Emmanuel Lawyer said yesterday they will appeal against the ruling, arguing that  facts have been misapplied.

The ruling delivered in the chambers on December 22 2023 by IRC deputy chairperson Peter Kandulu was filed on September 28 2022 following Banda’s removal from the position albeit there being an explanation that he would be going for further studies.

Reads the ruling in part: “Council for the applicant had moved the court to award the applicant the total sum award of K103, 316, 418. 00, being the total sum of the proposed awards.

“The applicant is awarded for unfair dismissal and severance allowance and the same must be paid within 30 days.”

The compensation package, which covers a period of 17 months which Banda would still have been serving his 3-year contract, covers foregone salaries and their due increments, travel and fuel allowances, gratuity and severance pay, among others.

“The applicant’s contract was to run from August 2020 to July 2023. It was terminated in February 2022 by the respondent. If the monthly entitlement of K5, 196, 337. 00 was to be taken, the total comes to K88, 337, 729. 00,” says the judgement, detailing the damages accrued from travel and fuel allowances.

The court has also awarded Banda the compensation due to what it calls the uniqueness of the matter and breach of the fixed-term contract which had cost the applicant his previous employment.

The ruling also considers that Banda was redeployed unilaterally to a post that did not exist.

Through his lawyer, Mauya Msuku, Banda argued that he was constructively dismissed when the applicant redeployed him to a non-existing post.

Kandulu, however, chided the office of the Attorney General (AG) for displaying what he described as a laissez-faire attitude when executing its duty at the expense of public resources.

The judge said this following failure by lawyers from the AG’s office to appear before court on several occasions, prompting the IRC to effect a default ruling that was only based on submissions by the applicant.

“I would like to urge officers responsible in the office of the AG to ensure that this tendency is checked and put to rest. Court services and orders must always be respected by the State. This would set a good example to all lawyers in the country since the AG is the head of the bar,” reads the ruling.

Several times, the State did not observe court procedure, including failure to reply to the application for compensation during the seven-day prescribed period, prompting the applicant to obtain a default judgement for compensation.

The AG’s office then sought a motion to set aside the default judgement to which the court set a day for hearing but the respondents again failed to show up for the hearing without giving a reason,  leading to the dismissal of the motion.

But when the court issued a date to hear the compensation assessment, AG’s office obtained a motion staying the proceedings, pending an application to set aside the default judgement. And when the motion was called on the appointed date, representatives of the State were not present in court.

Banda was President Lazarus Chakwera’s first press secretary. News that he would be leaving office for a four-month scholarship at Peking University in China broke on 28 July 2021, a year after he assumed office.