Chakwera withdraws Malawi police deputy IG appointment: MRA bosses hiring ‘provisional’

July 10, 2020 Wongani Chiuta - Nyasa Times 46 Comments

President Lazarus Chakwera has clarified that the  appointments of Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) commissioner general and his deputies are “provisional” and that the hiring of deputy Inspector General (IG) of Police has been withdrawn.

Chigwenembe’s appointment as deputy police chief has been witheld

On Wednesday Chief Secretary to Government Zangazanga Chikhosi announced the appointment of John Bizwick as MRA Commissioner General and his deputies; Henry Ngutwa responsible for revenue and Agness Katsonga responsible for administration.

Chakwera also appointed Demuster Chigwenembe as deputy Police IG responsible for operations.

But  Malawi Law Society (MLS) described as illegal the appointments, saying according to the law, the MRA commissioner general and a deputy are supposed to be appointed by a board while the police deputy IG is supposed to be appointed by the Malawi Police Service Commission.

Speaking during a swearing-in ceremony of his new Cabinet in Lilongwe at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) said it has been pointed out  correctly that the law does not give him  power to appoint a Commissioner General and Deputy Commissioner General for the public tax collector.

Chakwera said what the statement on the appointments did not mention is that because such appointments are the domain of the Board of MRA,  his appointments are only made to  function in an acting capacity “until the Board is reconstituted and in place to make permanent appointments.”

Said the President: “I have made these provisional appointments to stop the free-for-all pilferage of taxes and the destruction of evidence that have been taking place there in the last few weeks, crimes which need to be stopped as a matter of urgency.”

The appointment of the deputy Inspector General of police has been withdrawn, the President said.

“ As for the appointment of the Deputy Inspector General, it has duly been withheld pending a regularization process, and I commend all of you who noted the anomaly,” he said.

Chigwenembe’s appointment  had contravened Section 14 (a) (1) of Malawi Police Act which states that the Police Service Commission, as conferred on it by the Constitution, appoints persons to hold or act in office in the police service other than that of the IG.

The Constitution, under Section 154 (2), only gives the President the mandate to appoint the Inspector General of Police who is to be confirmed by Parliament. The supreme law of the land is silent on appointment of deputy IG.

On the other hand, Section 17 (1&2) of the MRA Act empowers the board to appoint the Commissioner General with approval from the minister and the same law empowers the board to appoint deputy commissioners.

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46 replies on “Chakwera withdraws Malawi police deputy IG appointment: MRA bosses hiring ‘provisional’”

  1. MLS, am hearing you now for the first time. Where were you all this time, are you strangers in Malawi or your grandfather Munthali has given you a burn.

  2. Muthalika was just appointing whether he has the powers or not, he would even appoint a wife or husband of somebody if so he wished. we did not know the law then. thank your excellency for abiding by the law.

  3. It seems our President Dr. Chakwera is working under the power of somebody who is using a remote control – testing individual minds – please don’t be afraid take your mantle and move forward Mr. President!!!!!! – the system of moving forwad and then backwards will take you nowhere just do the RIGHT thing and match forward. The eyes of everyone in Malawi are on you silly mistakes will cost you much.

  4. Thanks Mr Chakwera nafe tamphunzirapo Koma achi na mbirizi Ku MRA adasankhidwaso ndi board or Peter Munthalika?Or Malamulowo panalibe or a law Commission apeza chance yomawunikira zinthu this time around than when DPP was ruling party.Change is good.Mr Chakwera, leader akakonza mistake ndi Mtsogoleri wanzeru thanks.Palibe amaziwa zonse paja.

  5. But this pedegu Chakwera atibowatu with these U-turns. Ndiye zimene umati ukhetsera mwazi zija umanena mbwererazi iwe Chakwera? And you must know that your so called cabinet remains nepotistic whether the so called ministers shall deliver or not. Abusa kuchititsa manyazi ndithu.

  6. dpp siikanatulukamo mu bwalomu akanakhala kuti akuyendetsa molongosoka.
    osadzidabwa bwanji??? khalani pasi

  7. Is this happening indeed?.. ulendo.wa.ku Canaan uwu mmmmm.Mose.wake.alibe.ndodo sure…ndangodutsamo..koma mmmmm..

  8. Now let’s see if the HDRC will rush to court to stop these ‘acting’ appointments, which are illegal and he doesn’t have the power no authority to do, other than just abuse of office

    2. You have no business expecting any sympathy from the HRDC! Mulibe manyazi? Inuyo lero mudzinena za HRDC? Ingokhalani chete mutilakwitsa, or ingohkazikitsani lanu bungwe lidzikuthandizani.

  10. Phuma Mr president his mental is no stabilized yet eish we have along way to go for his presidential trials

    1. Yes, the Chief Secretary, the Chief of Staff and even the Attorney General and their assistants should be double checking appointments and other Govt activities. LMC himself should ensure that these embarrassing reversals stop because they are diluting his presidency. The whole team should learn to do things by the book – the way Chifundo Kachale run the 23 June FPE.

      Another person to learn from would be Barack Obama. During his tenure he was known as “No drama Obama” for his habit of ensuring that all necessary procedures had been followed BEFORE taking things to the American people. The LMC administration should learn to double check or even triple check presidential announcements. The amount of reversals for these less than two weeks are quite frankly embarrassing…

      If board members of MAB, apart from ex-officio members, have to be five in number and more than six feet tall, then LMC’s team should check, and double check, that they have indeed followed the law. They should not announce the appointment of seven members some of whom are below six feet!!

      1. He thinks threatening azibusa and members of his church can also work with his presidency

      2. Much as we all know that The position is new to Our most loved HE,It remains the duty of Advisors to avoid try and error. Akanganya Do you want your job or not. Watchout! Yes to error is Human But not with Our HE. Its too Early for Him. Note The entire world is Watching Us.

  13. Ichi ndikukhulupilila chidzangokhalabe chifanifani chamtsogoleri
    uku tikudikilila Chilima kulowa mmalo

    1. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nanu kodi pali munthu amene salakwitsa ? zidikilani Chilima kaya ndiye liti kaya koma ife wathu ndi yemweyu basi for the next 5 years , utsogoleri sumatanthauze kuyankhula moopseza ayi .

  17. Send A”Cb to MRA. No one is destroying documents. If they wanted they would still do it whether new commissioners or not.

  18. Like I said, saulos ali pheeee watching the new boss fail perform simple tasks. Chakwera is just another bakili

  19. Atupele was right, chakwera lacks government experience as such he listens to people instead of following the law. Oh shame! trial and error

    1. I STILL EXPECT THE BEST OUT OF HIM.

      MISTAKES ARE INEVITABLE. THE AG WILL BE ACCORDINGLY GUIDE HIM.

      AM SORRY ON HIS BEHALF

    2. Uchira just continue taking ur dosage. Mutharika violated the law a zillion times. Have you already forgotten that not long ago he unconstitutionally tried to force the Chief Justice to retire? Did he withdraw it? No. Did he accept his error? No. I would rather have a president that listens to the people as opposed to a Mr know it all who knows very little despite it being his supposedly area of expertise. Kudos Chakwera for not pretending to be a Mr know it all. You have my unfettered support.

    1. R U seriously, all those wrong appointment that your cadet president peter made. You were ok with it. He appointed acting inspector general of police when the law does not provide for such. Sick! Muona nyekhwe simunati. We are here another 30 years.

      1. LET ME EDUCATE YOU. HE BECAME ACTING IG BECAUSE PARLIAMENT NEVER APPROVED HIM.

        APM APPOINTED HIM AS IG, BUT PARLIAMENT NEVER APPROVED. THATS WHATS HAPPENED CHIF

  23. Embarrassing u-turns after u-turns. And it wasn’t an anomaly it was your incompetency. What a shambles.

    1. He is not a lawyer, so you cannot say he is incompetent. His legal advisers are the ones that should have pointed this out.

    2. Whether he make a u-turn or not , we are better off with this than having DPP in power, which was very arrogant.

    3. If you knew the meaning of incompetency you would have known that it was Peter Mutharika who was incompetent beyond measure. He failed as a minister of education. He failed as a minister of foreign affairs and he again failed as a president. For 6 years all what he accomplished was nepotism, cronyism, embezzlement, theft, regionalism and corruption. Here is a president who forced people to be calling his secondary school dropout wife a professor! Soon she will be arrested for theft and corruption. What a shame.

      1. What’s the difference here if we complained of nepotism, cronyism, regionalism and cluelessness on the part of Mutharika?It started like this and with stubbornness, things went bad to worse.Expect the same if this is the attitude of Chakwera.

    1. Exactly, this is an equivalent of inside trading. Using his presidential power pressure to influence board decision. I thought Chakwera appointed AG earlier to help him with these law matters, or is he a ‘listen president’ by merely words

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