Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee (PAC) and the Forum for National Development (FND) are pushing to have Non-Governmental Organisation Regulatory Authority (Ngora) chief executive officer Edward Chileka Banda reprimanded for, allegedly, ‘taking part in politics while serving as a public servant’. However, Chileka Banda—recently contested for the position of the Director of Youth at a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) convention—has challenged their position contesting that he has not flouted any law worth his reprimanding.
But what is the position of the law?
Chileka Banda
Section 193 (2) (a) of the Republican Constitution states that civil servants aspiring to engage in partisan politics must first resign from their official duties.
In addition, Regulation 24 of the Civil Service Regulations deplores any political activity that interferes with the performance of one’s duties as a civil servant, saying doing so constitutes an offence.
Those that are agitating for Chileka Banda’s reprimand are using those two provisions and, in their wisdom, if wisdom, they conclude that the Ngora boss is in the wrong and has to be summoned.
However, it is imperative, in the first place, to understand the difference between a civil servant and a public officer in the civil service.
In a 2014 case involving Jessie Kabwila and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), High Court judge Justice Dunstan Mwaungulu directed that ‘Dr. Kabwila who was a public officer in the civil service was exempted by Section 193 (3) of the Constitution because she is a person whose functions are not directly concerned with the formulation and administration of the policies of the government.’
It is clear from this ruling that public servant is free to stand in any party elections and is not supposed to resign before contesting. The High Court showed that a civil servant is different from a public servant. Public servant sapanga nawo ndondomeko kapena mfundo zoyendetsera dziko. Zimenezi amapanga ndi civil servant. Public servant kwake ndi kukwaniritsa mfundozi as long salowetsa ndale kutchito
Because of that High Court directive, Kabwila, during the 2014 elections, was able to stand for Salima North West Constituency.
Ngora was established as a statutory body by an Act of Parliament and its mandate is to register and regulate operations of NGOs in Malawi. It is just like University of Malawi (Unima) where Kabwila worked by the time he was stopped by MEC in 2014 after she submitted her nomination papers.
So what is the problem with Chileka Banda contesting at the MCP convention?
Interestingly, when Kabwila, during the recent MCP convention, was contesting on the position of Publicity Secretary, she was still a public servant at Malawi School of Government, another statutory corporation. She only resigned after she won the Publicity Secretary position.
One wonders if, indeed FND and other agitators, have had a complete reading on the law before raising a concern on Chileka Banda.
