Mera board saga

 The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has backed directorship roles of the Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) in parastatal boards amid calls for the office to give up such posts.

The committee’s chairperson Peter Dimba said in a written response yesterday that the SPC, currently Zanga- Zanga Chikhosi, does not impose himself on boards, saying his role is dictated by laws formed well before Chikhosi headed the public service.

Dimba’s stance follows sentiments by Leonard Chikadya, who has resigned as Mera board chairperson after Chikhosi sought parliamentary approval to dismiss him and fellow directors for mishandling the recruitment of the authority’s chief executive officer (CEO).

Chikadya said in his resignation letter that the SPC’s seat in the boards, especially those in the energy sector, has

made regulation of the industry problematic.

But Dimba countered: “The various Acts of Parliament for those parastatals [which the SPC chairs] stipulates that the SPC shall be the chairperson of those boards and I suspect the intention of the framers of these Acts was good.”

The office of the SPC chairs boards of Electricity Generation Company (Egenco), Power Market Limited, Greenbelt Investment Limited and National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma).

Chikadya said the SPC’s board positions are contributing to problems at Mera.

He said: “It would be extremely difficult for the Mera board to provide oversight of regulation on any institution where the chairperson is the SPC, who also heads the civil service.

Chikadya cites a scenario where the National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma), where Chikhosi is chairperson by virtue of being SPC, continues to receive fuel supplies despite Mera not approving premium fuel contracts.

But Dimba yesterday said framers of the Acts of Parliament probably considered the fact that parastatals chaired by the SPC are in a crucial industry that can break or make a nation and thought that government’s interests needed to

 be represented at such a high level.

He said it is imperative to also note that it is the office of the SPC and not necessarily the occupier of the office itself that the law stipulates should chair the parastatals.

“And that is why the past SPCs used to chair these parastatals and whoever comes after the current one will still be required to chair these parastatals,” Dimba said.

However, he said if some quarters are of the view that the law must be changed then they can initiate a process of amending the law without necessarily pointing fingers at the incumbent SPC since it is not his own making, but rather, according to the law.

That process has been initiated.

In its report submitted to Parliament this month, the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) proposed an amendment of the law that designates the SPC to serve as chairperson of parastatals.

According to the report, there are serious problems in boards of public enterprises which are chaired by the SPC.

The position of the SPC was established under Section 92 (4) of the country’s Constitution.

The SPC is mandated to have charge of the Cabinet office, be responsible, subject to directions of the Cabinet, for arranging the business, and keeping minutes of the Cabinet, conveying Cabinet decisions to appropriate persons or authorities and have other functions as the Cabinet may direct.