The High Court Civil Division in Blantyre on Tuesday discharged a judicial review order obtained by former Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) chief executive officer Kamkwamba Kummwenda and human resources and administration director Chrispin Banda who are challenging their secondment to teach in public universities.
In his ruling, Judge Allan Muhome said the rights that the claimants wanted to enforce were primarily private rights under their respective employment contracts and that reliefs sought in the High Court could be obtained in the Industrial Relations Court (IRC).
Kumwenda. | Nation
The ruling reads in part: “The law has carefully designed specialised courts to deal with labour matters and so the High Court should not be inundated with such matters, at first instance.
“It is the conclusion of this court that the claimants have an alternative and effective remedy in the [IRC].”
Attorney General Frank Mbeta asked the court to discharge the judicial review order, saying Kumwenda did not disclose to the court that he was demanding a pay of K1.1 billion for the remainder of his contract.
According to him, the demand was an indication that Kumwenda had an alternative remedy.
Secondly, he told the court on Monday that since Kumwenda and Banda said their contracts were breached, they should take the matter to the IRC, which deals with employment matters.
The two, through their lawyer Bentry Nyondo of Ritz Attorneys at Law, had argued that Escom, as a parastatal, did not fall under the civil service headed by the secretary; hence, Chief Secretary Justin Saidi had no powers to second them.
But in his ruling, the judge said Escom is registered as a public company under the Companies Act 2013 and is a State-owned firm.
“It is not a creature of statute, but may fall into the definition of a statutory body under the Public Audit Act. For other purposes, Escom may be considered a public body,” he said.
In November, Saidi seconded Kumwenda to Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences to be a lecturer, while Banda was seconded to Malawi School of Government.
In December 2025, the High Court granted the claimants permission to commence Judicial Review proceedings and stayed the Chief Secretary’s decision.
Kamkwamba has a fixed contract with Escom running from February 7 2025 to February 6 2028 while Banda’s contract is from January 4 2024 to January 3 2028.
