Legal and governance experts say Loans Board executive di rector Prince Phwetekere’s refusal of a secondment to Domasi College of Education is a litmus test of the law.
Chief Secretary Justin Saidi on November 6 2025 wrote to Phwetekere, who heads the Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board, that he was deployed to Domasi College of Education on secondment.
Phwetekere responded in a letter the same day that he was no longer a civil servant as the Office of President and Cabinet approved his voluntary retirement from the civil service effective from February 24 2023.
Reads the letter: “All processes were completed, and the reasons for my retirement still stand. My current employment is contractual with the board. With effect from March 1 2023, I entered into a five-year contract of employment with the board.”
In a brief interview yesterday, Phwetekere said: “I have said I will continue reporting for duty and that is what I am doing. Save for these two days, I have to attend some funerals, but I am always at work.”
for duty. | Nation
National Action Platform cha i rperson Benedi c to Kondowe said while the government has the muscle to hire and fire, there are limits to such powers.
He said: “If the officer is still part of the civil service establishment, the government may reassign or second them.
“However, if the person is on a fixed-term contract with a parastatal or independent institution [like the Loans Board], they are no longer under the direct control of the civil service, so secondment or transfer cannot be enforced.”
A labour law expert Mauya Msuku said while there is no one-size-fits all answer, generally, such redeployments amount to unfair labour practices.
He said: “If someone wants to teach, they know academic institutions. Look, getting the same salary or benefits does not suffice, because the environment, job description, level of making decisions, hierarchy, all changes.”
Mzuzu University-based politics for development expert Chrispin Mphande said the Phwetekere issue serves as an interesting reminder to those with powers to hire and fire.
He said: “The secondments, especially those with running contracts, are meant for them to be reassigned such tasks to finish the contract. We have seen others being assigned ‘special duties’ which is basically meant to remove them from main line civil service.”
An expert in electoral and legislative politics at University of Malawi Gift Sambo also said the government needs to demonstrate that its actions are within the dictates of the law.
Recently, the government also redeployed Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi chief executive officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda to Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences.
