Kachama ‘retirement’ and Jose appointment as Malawi Police IG leaves a lot to be desired
Governance expert Makhumbo Munthali has observed that the replacement of Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General (IG) Lexten Kachama with Rodney Jose in an acting capacity leaves a lot to be desired.
Munthali remarks comes in the wake of confusion with what State House has said about the removal of Kachama and Chief Secretary to government’s position on the former police chief.
Presidential spokesman Mgeme Kalilani said in a statement that Jose’s appointment was necessitated by Kachama going out on a 90-day annual leave.
The statement said Kachama’s annual leave which began on April 1 2018 will take him to the date of his retirement on June 30 2018.
“What His Excellency the President Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika has done therefore, is simply to appoint the Deputy Inspector General of Police; Mr. Rodney Jose as Acting Inspector General of Police to fill the gap created by the aforementioned administrative arrangement.
“The decision to appoint an Acting Inspector General of Police is meant to avoid a leadership vacuum in the Police service while Dr. Kachama is on leave pending retirement,” said Kalilani in the statement.
Chief Secretary to the Government Lloyd Muhura said Jose would be acting IG with Duncan Mwapasa as deputy IG (Operations) and John Nyondo as deputy IG (Administration).
He said post of substantive IG would be subject to confirmation by the Public Appointments Committee although Section 154 (2) actually says the appointee would be confirmed by the National Assembly as a Committee of the whole House.
In a letter to Kachama dated February 28 2018. Muhara said Kachama has 36 leave days which he needs to exhaust before retiring.
The 36 days of leave would not take Kachama to 30 June – the date of his retirement – hence the appointment of Jose seems to have been fast-tracked.
Muhara in the letter advised Kachama to proceed on leave during which he will also wait for retirement, essentially sacking him.
Under the Malawi Public Service Regulations, a person reaching mandatory retirement age is supposed to be informed three months in advance.
The appointment of Jose follows a series of social media insinuations by the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) operatives suggesting Kachama is a member of the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and he is contemplating standing as an MP on the party’s ticket in 2019.
He denied such assertions and the ‘sacking’ seemed to have been eminent.
The governance expert pointed out that there many civil servants who have reached retirement age and are still working in government.
Munthali also denounced the appointment of Jose, saying it may be perceived as “miscarriage of justice” and also some form of “rewarding injustice” considering that he was named as suspect in the murder of Robert Chasowa, a fourth year engineering student at the Polytechnic, a college of the University of Malawi.
Chasowa was found dead on campus on September 24 2011. Police said his death was suicide, but a post-mortem by a College of Medicine histopathologist, Charles Dzamalala, established that the death resulted from assault to the head with a blunt instrument or instruments.
Jose is named as the link between Chasowa and company and then police when he was serving as Southern Region Police commissioner.
Political and governance commentator Ernest Thindwa said the confusion on the issue was an indication of the need to professionalise the public service with a clear career progression outline.
He said: “When that [the outline] is not there, you have such appointments not based on merit, but political expediency.”
However, government spokesperson Nicholas Dausi, who is Minister of Information and Communications Technology, yesterday said Kachama had reached retirement age and was advised to proceed on leave to exhaust his leave days.
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How old is Nicholas Dausi by the way?
politics at best.
Paja musaiwale kuti DPP inagwirizana ndi UDF kuti President ndi mipando yonse yaikulu m’boma idzichokera ku chigawo cha ku mwera mpakana Yesu adzabwere. Ndiye inu apakati ndi kumpoto musadabwe ndiye mmene boma iri likuyendere. Zigawo zinazi ndi ma tractor ongotipula basi. Tiyeni nazo.
There is no way an inspector General of police can be confirmed by the public appointments committee only. It will have to be confirmed by the committee of the whole house. This is where Kanyama failed to gather courage to meet the whole house and he resigned on the way ;and this is where Jose will tumble and fail. With the 4 billion Kwacha scandal still fresh those crooks will not tamper with public resources again to buy MPs to vote for Jose.
Honestly speaking Kachama should have left service last year as he has accumulated leave days in excess off 197. Kachama is not the first public servant to proceed on leave pending retirement which is very normal in the public service. He will continue getting all his benefits and pay up to 18th june 2018 so he has not been fired. To argue that the public service has no career path is both stupid and evidence of lack of understanding of succession. DIGs are second in command so it was either Jose or Mapasa. APM did not elevate someone lower in… Read more »
It seems you are so intelligent,let me just ask you these questions,is Jose not a suspect on Robert Chasowa’s murder case,is he suppose to be appointed to that rank while he has got a case to answer?Are you supporting his appointment while he committed a crime as a police?
What about Goodall Gondwe sanafike pa retirement age? So funny
Iam failing to understand government’s justification for removing KACHAMA as inspector general of police attributing his dismissal due to reaching mandatory age of retirement of 60 years. Information gathered from police sources indicates that the director of hrmd who retired in December 2017 has been given extension to work for two more yearsyears effective January 2018 by OPC after he was rejected by the police service commission. In addition to extending him reports say that he has been promoted to a grade equivalent to that of police commissioner but police service commission is reluctant to endorse. Now the question is… Read more »
if people from civil service at the age of 65 or so, why do we allow people in their 70s and 80 to be running the government. I think we should put a cup on the age of those who want to contest as presidents or serve in the cabinet. we have people in the government who retired from government and now they are working for the government at the age of 70. These are the people who are messing our country. We need people who can shape this country for the future.
Kodi Peter Mathanyula Muntharika, Goodall Gondwe akutanibe m’boma? These guys are 80+ now choncho dziko lilongosoka? Azigogo awo a azibambo athu amenewa
Why are you failing to ask also why Chasowa was killed out of all the then Polytechic students?
Never heard of an appointment that was given credit. The police and military duties require physical fitness osati za aja aku Joni anagwa akutsitsa maliro a Bingu mundege. Mzimu wao uwuse mumtendere. Mandatory retirement age in the civil service is 60 koma N’pamene mchere umayamba kuzuna. Fare thee well Mr.Kachama, you know the truth. Pachoka mzako pali malo.