Teacher reinstated 13 years after interdiction

Ministry of Education has reinstated a teacher it interdicted 13 years ago, thanks to the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The ministry interdicted Raphael Phiri who was head teacher at Njuli Community Day Secondary School in Chiradzulu on allegations that he had misappropriated examination fees amounting to K22 960 (about $54).

Ironically, all the students sat for their examinations in 2001, the year Phiri purportedly embezzled the fees.

When he appeared before the magistrate’s court in Chiradzulu, Phiri denied the charge, arguing students could not have sat for their examinations if he had misappropriated their fees.

The court acquitted him, citing lack of evidence that he had indeed stolen the money but the ministry went on to interdict him.

According to Phiri, efforts to get justice from the higher courts did not yield the desired results as he was pushed from one office to the other until 2008 when he referred the matter to the Ombudsman.

Regional officer in the Office of the Ombudsman (South), Paul Njola, said after conducting thorough investigations Phiri was proven to be innocent.

Njola also said that where a civil servant has been acquitted, disciplinary proceedings may arise out of his or her conduct, but he ruled out interdiction.

“It was for this reason that I wrote the ministry asking for a mediation to which they agreed. Our office was of the view that government was ill-treating an innocent man,” said Njola.

The ministry has since posted Phiri – stuck on PT4 grade due to the interdiction – to St. Michael’s Primary School in Chiradzulu.