By Wadza Botomani
Some Concerned Members of Staff-Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) have written to the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ombudsman, Anti Corruption Bureau and to the Ministry of Energy- Controller of Statutory Corporations to express their concerns over what they call unauthorized contract renewal of Director of Fuels contract by MERA CEO Henry Kachaje
In a letter which we have seen the concerned members wrote;
“We members of staff of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) would like to put to your attention of the machinations of our CEO Mr Henry Kachaje in trying to use off-book strategies in renewing the contract of Mrs Alinafe Mkavea to the position of Director for Fuels whose contract expired on 31st May 2022”.
“What is more worrying is the fact that Mr Kachaje himself is holding onto a position that he got dubiously as was exposed in the leaked Ombudsman report that faulted his irregular appointment as he did not have the required qualifications for the job”.
“The whole MERA board was eventually replaced due to the same fiasco but he has unashamedly hanged on.We are well aware the CEO with the aid of an invisible hand is maneuvering to backdate Mrs Mkavea’s contract renewal in order to escape from the restrictions of an executive order President Lazarus Chakwera gave on Tuesday, 31st March 2022 that effectively bans any contract renewals for senior management staff in all parastatals and MDAs save for special clearances.”
On Mrs Mkavea the concerned members says
She has been hanging on that position even though a MERA staff appointment and disciplinary committee on 5th July, 2021 recommended her firing after she was found guilty on five charges relating to conflict of interest, putting the reputation of the organization into disrepute and insubordination following a series of repetitive acts of misconduct.
The members of staff are appalled by this deliberate ploy to avert justice first by shielding Mrs Mkavea from facing the consequences of her actions through pushing of the disciplinary report under carpet and secondly giving her another contract despite doing so being against the presidential executive order.
To paint a clear picture of her case; Mrs Mkavea was found guilty of breaching section 17 of the Energy Regulation Act of 2004 which bars MERA board members and employees from operating filling stations, the Director of Fuels was found by the committee to have lied to the investigating team that she had zero interest in Wenela Puma filling station when confronted on 8th May 2019, whereas the investigation revealed that she still was running the business up until September 2020 and beyond.On 19th March 2019, the then MERA CEO communicated to Mrs Mkavea, the Mera board position and direction that as a condition to the renewal of her contract which has just expired she and her family had to surrender the running of the filling station as it was standing in conflict with MERA’s policies as a regulator in the same industry she was running business.
Alinafe Mkavea was also found on the wrong for disrespect of authority when she petitioned former President Peter Mutharika, Vice President, Energy minister, Gender minister among other offices claiming that she was being harassed by her superiors on a matter that had already been put to her as conflict of interest which was in conflict with policies and laws guiding the organization.
In mitigation to the disciplinary team Mrs Mkavea had apologized as a sign of remorse for her activities which was treated as an admission of guilt from which a guilty on all counts verdict was derived on that attracted the recommendation of dismissal basing on her record of past misconduct.
However, to everybody’s amazement Mrs Mkavea was never fired nor did she face any disciplinary measures following the report. It baffles us to realise that there are machinations being worked on to renew her contract with the background we have provided and notwithstanding the president’s executive order.In all fairness Mrs Mkavea should not have been on MERA’s payroll up to this day if there was level headedness in the top management especially the CEO and at board level.We are even more concerned that our CEO Mr Kachaje has joined the bandwagon of shielding Mrs Mkavea whose handlers at the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) included the former Secretary to the President and Cabinet.
The concerned members claims that the two are suspected to be in a love relationship.”Everyone can only speculate as to what interest has Mr Kachaje in trying to push for the renewal of Mrs Mkavea’s contract, a person who has only done better in injuring MERA’s corporate image by wantonly disregarding laid down protocols of the organization” read the letter
The concerned members have set a string of demands that they want to be actioned. They are calling upon the senior management at MERA to follow the law and respect the president’s order by not renewing Mrs Mkavea’s contract based on the findings of the disciplinary committee whose report is in our possession. Furthermore, we beseech the new SPC Ms Coleen Zamba to quickly act on these matters including the outstanding matter of irregular recruitment of MERA CEO who is working illegally and is in front of maladministration at the state corporation.
They are threatening that Failure to adhere the demands will lead to
-Blocking of Mrs Mkavea from working at MERA premises
-They will leak the report that faulted Mrs Mkavea on her disciplinary issues
– They will Formally petition the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on the matter Commence industrial action until sanity prevails
Mera CEO Henry Kachaje has not yet responded to the staff concerns and Makvea refused to comment on the matter
 have written to the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ombudsman, Anti Corruption Bureau and to the Ministry…){kind=link}