Government has redeployed chief executive officers of the five water boards to take up teaching jobs at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas), a move which governance and economic experts warn is imprudent.
Separate letters we have seen dated November 18 and 24, signed by Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi and addressed to Central Region Water Board (CRWB), Blantyre Water Board (BWB) and Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) chief executive officers John Makwenda, Robert Hanjahanja and Duncan Chambamba, respectively, said the trio will serve at Mubas as employees of their respective water boards.
Saidi said the CEOs will continue to receive their remuneration and benefits accordingly.
Read the letters in part: “The secondment shall be governed by the Malawi Public Service Regulations [MPSR] provisions relating to the secondment of public servants to the corporation and other organisations.
“The secondment may be cancelled at any time before the end of the agreed-upon secondment period if a need arises and with the mutual agreement of the parties.”
Saidi said in an interview yesterday that the redeployments have also affected Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) and Lilongwe Water Board CEOs Francis Munthali and Sili Mbewe, respectively.
He justified that some of the redeployments have to do with underperformance, stating that in some cases they are sending experienced people.
“These people will be role models to students. They have worked for water boards for a long time. We want hands-on experience. We are also sending them to places which have vacancies,” he said.
When contacted yesterday, Makwenda said he welcomed the secondment, but refused to say whether he will challenge it.
Hanjahanja and Munthali said they were yet to receive official communication from Saidi and had only seen the letters on social media.
Reacting to the development, economis t -cum-governance commentator Milward Tobias warned that the public service is under siege and should be liberated, saying it was worrisome that the CEO positions at the boards will technically be filled by two people who government has to pay.
“People are effective on a job because they are passionate about it. You cannot just turn everyone into a lecturer when they have not been a teacher before,” he said.
National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said in a written response yesterday that the move poses far-reaching implications for the already struggling parastatals.
Governance expert George Chaima said if government did not want such people in those positions, the best approach would have been to examine their contracts and terminate them legally.
He said: “It is better that way than to let them enjoy benefits which do not apply in their new roles. Government must tread carefully with its human capital.
“Public finances must be utilised prudently to reflect the integrity of the State. The country needs strict use of public funds to revive from deep poverty lines.”
