Blantyre City boss suspended, ACB on him
Blantyre City Council (BCC) has suspended its Assistant Director of Administration Services (ADAS) Mpopo Gilevulo to pave way for smooth investigations following revelations by Nyasa Times that he connived with the Director of Financial Services (DFS) to deduct personal loans from some junior employees on his behalf.
Nyasa Times investigations revealed two weeks ago that some workers at BCC had threatened to sue the DFS, Mr. Kasamba, and also wanted him out of the council for abuse of office and infringing on workers’ personal life after he approved deductions of the loans which had nothing to do with BCC.
The underhand deductions were effected month end of September, a move that sent jitters as the close to 50 employees some of whom had K0.00 on their pay slips warned of triggering chaos at the workplace.
“I can confirm that the ADAS was told not to report for duties to pave way for investigations immediately after Nyasa Times broke the news,” a source confided in Nyasa Times on Wednesday.
“The verbal indefinite suspension was made by the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alfred Chanza, who ordered him to go home until the CEO is back in office,” he said.
The CEO, Ted Nandolo, is currently on a six-week refresher course at the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) in Lilongwe.
The source further revealed that the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has also started its investigations after receiving complaints from some workers.
The source also told our reporter that after Nyasa Times broke the news, the Ministry of Local Government grilled the BCC Chief Executive Officer, Nandolo, who was at pains to explain what was wrong with his management as over the last three months the media has unearthed several fraudulent acts.
“Of course the CEO is also bitter with ADAS because this is not the first he has acted in such a manner. Last time, he was chairman of a team that was overseeing the auction sale of BCC used motor vehicles and he connived with some people to pose as buyers. But eventually it was discovered that he actually used the two people to buy the vehicles himself,” explained our source who is in accounts section.
On the current issue, the source said Chanza was also equally furious because he suspected Gilevulo did the transactions to demean his management as acting CEO.
The acting CEO said this after he had, in early September (before the deductions were effected), refused in writing Gilevulo to deduct the personal loans using Council structures.
“The acting CEO did put it in writing and he was upset to learn that the deductions went ahead despite his stop order,” he said.
Nyasa Times visit to the Civic Centre offices on Wednesday indeed verified that ADAS’s office was locked and instead a Mrs. Khanga was acting as Assistant Director of Administration Services.
Meanwhile, some victimized workers are meeting on Friday this week for the next course of action as most of them are yet to get their refunds.
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