The High Court of Malawi has faulted the Office of the Ombudsman for entertaining complainants challenging the appointment of Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Henry Kachaje without exhausting available remedies.
In a ruling delivered on Friday in Lilongwe in the case in which Mera board applied for judicial review of the Ombudsman’s inquiry into economist Kachaje’s recruitment, Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda said the decision to investigate the matter was flawed.
The Ombud sma n’s invest igation fol l owed separate complaints from Richard Chapweteka, one of the applicants for the post of Mera CEO, who underwent selection interviews and another from the Forum for National Development.
Delivering the ruling, Nyirenda said the Ombudsman’s decision to commence an inquiry into the matter was seriously flawed.
Reads the ruling: “Mr. Chapweteka had a remedy reasonably available to him by way of proceedings in a court. This means that the defendant [Ombudsman] did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter.
“Accordingly, the relief sought by the claimant [Mera] to have the challenged decision quashed is granted. It is so ordered.”
During the hearing of the judicial review case in October, Mera argued that the Ombudsman lacked jurisdiction to investigate the complaint because the matters complained of were labour or employment matters that could easily be resolved by the Industrial Relations Court.
However, the Ombudsman, on the other hand, argued that it had jurisdiction over the complaints made to it because the matter related to an allegation of injustice and maladministration.
In November 2021, Mera obtained a court order that prohibited the Ombudsman from releasing findings of its investigation into alleged unfair recruitment of Kachaje.
But a leaked copy of the findings showed that Kachaje’s appointment as Mera CEO was nullified on the basis that procedures were flouted.
The Ombudsman made an application in December 2021 to vacate the injunction but it was dismissed by the High Court while an appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal was also dismissed in May last year.
Meanwhile, Kachaje is serving a second three-year term at Mera after his contract was renewed in September this year
