MERA Board Chairperson Leonard Chikadya Resigns

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Board Chairperson Leonard Chikadya has announced that he resigned from his position with immediate effect in a letter addressed to Controller of Statutory Corporations Peter Simbani.

Chikadya’s resignation comes barely few days after President Lazarus Chakwera fired the whole MERA Board in relation to recruitment of MERA Chief Executive Officer Henry Kachaje.

Chikadya and his colleagues were due to appear before Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of parliament for an inquiry of how they handled the recruitment of Kachaje as MERA CEO.

But Chikadya finds this troubling because PAC had already invited him for the inquiry and handled the matter in October 2021 and made a determination which was duly communicated to the MERA Board on November 27, 2021.

“The enquiry of Pac was very comprehensive and involved all stakeholders that were involved in the recruitment process including the Office of the President and Cabinet itself through the Comptroller of Statutory Corporations that provided secretarial services during the recruitment process.

“PAC advised the MERA Board that they did not find any reasons to remove the board and, critically, Pac determined that the MERA Board was not incompetent in the recruitment of the CEO,” Chikadya has said.