Chakwera moves to address concerns of  ‘cadet’ Buluma’s appointment as Nocma acting CEO

President Lazarus Chakwera  has commended the new board of State-owned National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) chaired  by Secretary to President and Cabinet Zangazanga Chikhosi for assessing allegations of abuse of office by some of the executives there.

Nocma has suspended CEO Gift Dulla and director of finance (DoF) Richard Milanzi to pave the way for investigations into alleged financial and procurement mismanagement at the entity.

The Nocma board has since appointed deputy CEO Hellen Buluma as acting CEO with Dingiswayo Sambo as acting DoF.

Speaking on Thursday, President Chakwera  said he has ordered Chikhosi to address concerns over appointment of Buluma as Acting CEO following outrage over her alleged previous involvement with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

“Upon finding that there were indeed irregularities, the board moved swiftly to suspend the Chief Executive Officer to pave way for investigations. I would like to commend the board of Nocma for being so diligent,” said Chakwera.

His remarks comes amid a spate of investigations into alleged plunder of various State enterprises during the era of the voted out DPP.

Chakwera also noted that Malawians across the country have raised “a loud outcry” over the board’s decision to appoint Buluma as the Acting CEO, on account of the fact that she  is a known operative of the DPP.

“This outcry is not without merit, and since Nocma in its entirety belongs to you, the Malawian people, I support your right to express concern over its running,” he said.

Chakwera said he will remove all public officers who fail to act on directions to act on various cases and cited the Director of Public Prosecutions for failing to act on directions from the Constitutional Court on officers who abused the law, for example.

“Essentially, clearing the rubble means four things. First and foremost, it means removing those from our state institutions who have committed criminal offences,” said Chakwera.

The President has since  ordered boards of parastatals to remove all employees who were appointed for political reasons.

Nocma Limited is wholly-owned by the Government of Malawi and was formed in line with the National Energy Policy of January 2003, but was registered on December 14 2010 under the Companies Act of 1984.

The strategic company  is involved in fuel importation, storage at strategic fuel reserves and distribution nationwide. It is complemented by Petroleum Importers Limited, a consortium of private sector petroleum trading companies.

On Monday, Nocma was opening bids for importation of fuel.

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