Mera board chair resigns
Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) board chairperson Dingiswayo Jere has resigned from his position after securing a job as chief operations manager at Malawi Rural Development Fund (Mardef).
Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi is set to replace Jere effective April 1 2016, it has been established.
this year: Jere
Mera spokesperson Fitina Khonje yesterday confirmed Jere’s move to Mardef.
She said: “He [Jere] has secured a job and our [Mera] Act does not allow a board chair to also have a job in the public service.”
Initially, Jere’s contract as Mera board chairperson was expected to run up to 2018.
His resignation comes barely two weeks after our sister newspaper, Weekend Nation, reported that the Mera board approved to divert K2.94 billion from the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to buy maize for State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), a decision Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe described as illegal.
But Khonje ruled out any connection between the revelations and the resignation, saying Jere picked up the Mardef job in February 2016.
She also said the appointment of Bvumbwe is subject to approval by the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
Jere could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But Bvumbwe, in an interview yesterday, confirmed receiving the offer letter but said it was awaiting PAC confirmation.
He said: “I am waiting for confirmation, but I have the letter and I am eager to take up the post.”
PAC chairperson Lingson Belekanyama confirmed that his committee interviewed Bvumbwe on March 23 this year.
He said the ball is now in President Peter Mutharika’s court to effect the appointment. n
How can a public institution (Mardef) employ a person who has failed to follow the law of the land in public finance management? As chair of MERA, the guy diverted a big sum of money without following the laws of the land and now we offer him a job within the public service! In a working democracy, appropriate enforcement agencies would have been investigating this guy and his friends.