Immigration staff want Kalumo fired

Concerned Immigration officers have given the department’s director general Charles Kalumo 10 days to resign over allegations of a tyrannical administration and unfair interdictions.

 The officials further accuse their DG of having “destroyed the department” because of his poor management style.

The group includes suspended senior ranking officers namely Deputy Commissioner of Immigration Anne Kaonga, senior assistant Commissioner of Immigration Richard Chidwala, assistant Commissioner of Immigration Andrew Chifukwa, assistant Commissioner of Immigration Nellie Mkandawire, senior Superintendent Thomas Chinula, Senior Superintendent Andrew Mughogho and Superintendent Blackwell Lungu.

A team sent to represent 163 disgruntled Immigration staff on Monday evening presented a petition to Ministry of Homeland Security Secretary for Administration Erica Maganga in Lilongwe, who is said to have “promised to act within the agreed 10-day period”, according to the group’s spokesperson Charles Chisi.

Chisi, who is Inspector of Immigration at the Lilongwe office, said in an interview yesterday that they had initially planned to meet the ministry’s Principal Secretary Steven Kayuni after Kalumo refused to meet them on Monday morning.

He said Kalumo was duly informed of their meeting, but opted to ignore it prompting them to construe that the DG had chickened out.

Chisi explained that Kayuni was not available and instead they met Maganga who received their petition in which they demanded the resignation or firing of Kalumo within 10 days, failing which they would take unspecified action.

He disclosed that the grounds they are pushing for Kalumo’s removal include running the department like his personal estate.

Chisi said several officers have been suspended verbally without according them the right to be heard.

He further alleged that, for example, the Immigration Department has been operating without commissioners since 2022 and that the research and planning section of the department has not been functioning because the DG is siding key personnel in the section.

“Officers are shouted at like they are his children. Officers are simply tired with this man. They want him to go. He found a well-functioning department in 2022, but all structures have been destroyed.

“All senior officers he found in the system have been made useless because he took away their responsibilities. He appointed junior officers to take over their responsibilities. Senior officers report to junior officers which is very awkward in a security institution like ours,” said Chisi.

Efforts to speak to Kalumo and other government authorities, including Maganga, Kayuni, Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma and Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu proved futile. Office of the President and Cabinet spokesperson Robert Kalindiza referred us back to Kunkuyu.

Early last month, a group of passport-seekers petitioned President Lazarus Chakwera to fire Ng’oma and Kalumo within 15 days for allegedly failing the nation.