Govt appoints Planning Commission head
Economist Thomas Chataghalala Munthali has been appointed as director general of the National Planning Commission (NPC) with effect from mid March.
NPC board chairperson Professor Richard Mkandawire said in an interview yesterday that Munthali’s appointment follows a competitive recruitment process as laid out in the NPC Act of 2017.
Before his appointment, Munthali, who holds a master’s degree and PhD in economics from University of Leeds in England, was director of Knowledge and Learning at the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) on capacity development based in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he coordinated capacity development efforts across the AU member countries.
Prior to joining ACBF, Munthali served in various portfolios including as Malawi country director for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) president and former member of the Advisory Council for Strategic Planning.
Munthali, a Personal Finance columnist in Weekend Nation, a Nation Publications Limited (NPL) product, has also worked with Malawi’s Ministry of Economic Planning and Development where he was part of a team that coordinated the development of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy.
He has also chaired and sat on a number of corporate and non-governmental organisation (NGO) boards.
NPC, an independent institution established by an Act of Parliament in 2017, is mandated to formulate the medium and long-term development plans of the country and coordinate their implementation.
