Chief Secretary to Govt Bright Msaka tells Ombudsman Chizumila to resign

A confidential memo/letter of the Ombudsman to foreign missions in the country says Chief Secretary to Government, Bright Msaka, told Ombudsman Tujilane Chizumila to resign after three members of staff accused her of various allegations.

Three members of staff were interdicted later after they accused Chizumila of various allegations including getting K137, 000 for a trip to Zambia which she later cancelled and payment of medical scheme for seven beneficiaries instead of five as stipulated in her agreement with the Government.

Other accusations are duplication of writing determinations already written by her predecessor Enoch Chibwana and the payment of K880,000 for maintenance of her residence in Chitipi, Lilongwe.

The report, which was demanded by the foreign missions, indicates that a senior official from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs told Msaka to ask Chizumila to resign, but she is said to have flatly refused to do so.

Chizumila was on October 11 arrested and charged with the same offences which the three members of staff levelled against her, but in a report authored by the executive director of the Office of the Ombudsman, Ellos Lodzeni, it shows she is challenging her arrest, saying it was unconstitutional.

“The Ombusdman has instructed her lawyers to file judicial review at the High court on human rights abuse because her arrest is unconstitutional…,” says the report in part, blaming the executive arm of Government for ordering her arrest on tramped up charges.

The report questions why Msaka and the Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga did not know about her arrest, saying they called her after reading the story of her arrest in the Malawi News issue of October 12 this year. The report says the three members of staff who penned the Government for the removal of Chizumila were disgruntled because a report on human resources authored by a consultant, indicates that the office has too many people without the right qualifications, most of whom are women.

The report, which is to be implemented after it was handed over to the Government two years ago, recommends several options, including the firing of unsuitable members of staff, re-deployment and asking those without the right qualifications to go for upgrading.

Most of the staffers were said to have Malawi School Certificate of Education.

The report adds that members of staff fear for their jobs since the implication of the Ombudsman.