Government asked to intervene on ‘expatriates’ at Toyota Malawi

Employees at Toyota Malawi Liimted have demanded that the Malawi government should investigate some top bosses at the company who work as expatriates when,  in actual fact,  their qualifications and technical know-hows of the jobs they are handling are shoddy.

The employees have said that most of the said expatriates are unqualified and yet they have taken high profile positions at the company leaving out suitably qualified Malawians.

In a letter which Nyasa Times has seen the employees, who opted for anonymity, said they were disheartened by foreigners taking up  positions which can easily be handled by Malawian.

They said,  for instance, the managing director, Kennedy Kabaghe,  from Zambia has a mere Diploma in Marketing, while the company has a seasoned Malawian, Andrew Katimba, who is qualified for the job with good academic qualifications.

Among others, Katimba is a Chartered Accoutant with a Master of Science in Strategic Management.

“Katimba has been with the company for more than 20 years and was the General Manager of Finance and currently is the General Manager of Corporate Affairs,” reads part of the letter.

Apart from the managing director, the chief finance officer is Peter Matiru from Kenya,  and the employees said there were about five Malawian chartered accountants and that two amongst these can do the job.

“In addition, we have lot of qualified, well experienced and seasoned finance and accounting people who can do this job in Malawi,” reads the letter.

On the position of  National Service Manager, there is Johannes Heydenreich from South Africa who simply has a technician’s certificate/ diploma.

“However, the company has  service managers that are qualified with the required experience, degrees and Masters degrees fit for these jobs,” adds the letter.

“The government of the previous administration gave working permits without looking at the criteria of expatriate here. The local people are more experienced and far much educated than these people. And the skills required to do these roles are abundant in Malawi but they continue to allow them anyway. Corruption might have played a role,” one of  employees told Nyasa Times.

Some weeks ago during an interface meeting with ICT stakeholders in Blantyre, minister of information, Gospel Kazako emphasised that government is aware that many foreigners have taken jobs that Malawians can do better.

Kazako sent a warning signal that government will no tolerate its citizens suffering while they are capable of handling some positions occupied by some foreigners.