Prof Seyani denies being favoured by Malawi govt, speaks out

Director General of the National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens  (NHBGP) Professor James Seyani has refuted allegations that government is favoring him by bringing him back as Director general for the NHBG after reaching his retirement age.

Seyani was reacting to a press reports that says he is been favored due to his district of origin and tribe.

In a brief response to Nyasa Times questionnaire on his reactions to the reports,  Seyani said he is on post retirement employment and he has been like that from 2012. 

“I have been working on post retirement employee from way back and in 2012, while I was on a short holiday outside the country, I was dismissed and no reasons were given then during the era of her excellency Dr Joyce Banda.” 

“The same government in 2014, decided that I should resume my duties on post retirement. The board of the National Herbarium and botanical gardens wrote me a letter to resume my duties but I didn’t take it instantly” explained  Seyani. 

According to  Seyani, he agreed to resume duties on 1/09/2017 after a long discussion. “It was therefore not a new appointment but mere resumption of duties” he said.

One of the re-known commentator from Chancellor college who asked not to be mentioned said while it can be seen that Seyani is being favored in general public eyes, it must be noted that post retirement employment in academic and research institutions is very common and not a new thing.  

The commentator said currently, there are also a lot of professionals on post retirement employment in academic and research institutions even public universities.  He gave an example of re-known commentators and academicians like Prof Ben Kalua, Prof Kanyama Phiri, Dr. Francis Moto and Dr. Kwapata just to mention a few. 

“The assertion that Prof Seyani is favored by government is not only misleading but also misguided and fails to recognize that for academic and research institutions which often require special expertise, post retirement employment is not strange and cannot be news” he said

 Seyani also refused the allegations that he is working without a contract but draws benefits.

“It is also not true.  What is true is that the board called me back to “resume duties” based on my previous contract which was terminated in 2012 without any reason.  So I resumed work based on my initial contract because government rescinded it’s own decision of 2012 and asked me to resume duties” he said.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :