The recent suspensions of top executives across key parastatals have sparked a heated legal debate, with prominent legal minds arguing the decisions are irregular, contravene the law and appear driven by political influence rather than statutory mandate.
Government on Friday confirmed suspensions of Macra director general Daud Suleman, MBC director general George Kasakula and National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) chief executive officer Humphrey Mdyetseni, all pending investigation.
University of Malawi law lecturer Dr. Benadetta Malunga stated the government’s actions violated the establishing legislation of these institutions.
She stressed that entities such as the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) are intended to be independent, making direct interference via suspension irregular and outside the legal framework.
“It is clear from the law that boards are responsible for key decisions such as hiring and firing. At the moment, we do not have the boards in place. This means there is no authority that can legally suspend someone from work. What the government should have done is constitute the boards and allow them to make these key decisions. As it stands, they have acted beyond what the law allows,” she said.
Echoing this view, lawyer and National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe argued that in the absence of the boards, the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) should not have made such sweeping decisions.
Kondowe cited the Communications Act (2016), which grants the power to appoint, discipline and remove the director general exclusively to their respective boards (Section 9 for Macra; Sections 88 and 89 for MBC).
“By dissolving the boards and proceeding with suspensions, government effectively acted outside the legal framework that governs these institutions, thereby undermining statutory authority, institutional independence and the principles of sound governance,” Kondowe asserted.
In a direct counter-argument, former Malawi Law Society (MLS) president Burton Mhango while agreeing that boards are ordinarily mandated to make critical decisions, he argued that in their absence, authority reverts to the shareholder, which in this case is the OPC.
“Now that the boards are not in place, the OPC takes charge and from my legal interpretation, there is nothing irregular about that,” Mhango stated.
Chief Secretary Justin Saidi maintained that his office acted entirely within the law without citing specific legislation.
“The public must understand that this is not about firing. These are suspensions pending investigations. We have not flouted any law. In the absence of boards, authority reverts to the OPC for making critical decisions to avoid creating a vacuum in parastatals.”
Political commentator Wonderful Mkutche noted that, given the timing, one could reasonably point to political influence. Mkutche urged the government to expedite the investigations to resolve the ambiguity and allow the suspended individuals to know their fate.
