Forum for National Development (FND) has written the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate the appointment of renowned motivational speaker Mr. Henry Kachaje as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA).
The letter seen by Malawi Voice indicates that FND has been forced to write the ACB following complaints received by the organization alleging that Mr. Kachaje does not possess the required Master’s Degree and necessary experience for the post he now occupies at MERA.
A vacancy advert for the post for CEO that MERA issued early this year invited applications from prospective candidates with Master’s Degree as minimum academic qualification.
“If the assertions are true, how Mr. Kachaje got shortlisted to the interviews, let alone appointed is a mystery, leaving out other equally qualified people.” Read the letter in part signed by FND National Coordinator Mr. Fryson Chodzi
In the letter FND laments that the selection and appointment of a Bachelor’s Degree holder is a case of unjust treatment to many qualified individuals with similar academic qualification who never applied for the job due to limitation that MERA placed in the advert.
“We believe that Mr. Kachaje might have gotten unfair advantage over many other people who could have applied for this job if MERA was honest with its requirement.” Reads the letter
A lot of Malawians including Member of Parliament for Blantyre City South Constituency Honorable Noel Lipipa have criticized MERA’s board for picking a candidate who does not meet minimum academic qualification for the position of CEO at the authority.
The revelation Mr. Kachaje’s qualification has come hot on the heels of dismissals of several individuals from different public and parastatal institutions over lack of required qualifications and alleged nepotism.
When heading the Ombudsaman, the current ACB Director, Martha Chizuma released an investigative report titled “Institutional Anarchy” on March 19, 2021 in which it was found existence of unprocedural recruitment of then MERA CEO, Dr. Collins Magalasi as well as improper and irregular recruitment of other members of staff.
Besides reverting some officers to their old positions for being promoted without required qualifications, the Ombudsman’s report nullified the recruitment of late Maxwell Mkumba for not possessing minimum Masters’ Degree which was contrary to MERA’s recruitment policy clause 5.3(vi).
On Mkumba’s recruitment, the report expressed outrage over the MERA board’s justification that it recruited the unqualified person who performed exceedingly well as all the candidates performed poorly for the position.
“It sets a very dangerous precedent for MERA and the energy sector of the country as it eventually leads to loss on the required expertise in the energy field and it defeats the whole purpose of having job description and requirements for each particular position.” noted the Ombudsman report
It recommended that MERA should in subsequent recruitment process allow “all Malawians who satisfy the criteria to compete in a fair manner”.
It further advised MERA that “In the event that they cannot find a suitable candidate in accordance with their specifications, MERA should with the assistance of DHRMD (Department of Human Resource Management and Development) should come up with an alternative criterion for the candidates and again, allow all those who meet the new criteria to compete for the position.”
On other hand, the recruitment of unqualified persons would set as litmus test to president Dr. Lazarus Chakwera who promised Malawians during campaign that his administration shall apply merit in the recruitment of candidates to head public and parastatal institutions.
