Malawi Attorney General Silungwe faults OPC on reassignment of Chizaso Nyirongo

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—As new Secretary to President and Cabinet Zangazanga Chikhosi appears to continue repeating mistakes of his predecessor Lloyd Muhara in transferring and demotion of senior officers in government departments, Attorney General (AG) has asked his office to rescind the decision of transferring a senior officer in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Chizaso Nyirongo.

In a letter dated August 20, 2020 to Chikhosi, Silungwe advised against the re-appointment of Nyirongo through secondment from Law Commission as Chief legislative counsel to replace the incumbent Amani Mussa.

“I note that you have not responded to my letter of 16^th July 2020. Please note that the purported secondment of Mr. Chizaso Nyirongo; and the posting of Mr. Amani Mussa breach the Public Service Act, especially Regulation 1: 176 of the Malawi Public Service Regulations. The two decisions are ultra-vires and illegal,” reads the letter in part.

Information gathered by the Maravi Post indicates that Nyirongo is a close relation to deputy SPC Janet Chikaya Banda.

Commenting on the matter, governance expert Makhumbo Munthali has advised Chikhosi to try as much as possible to avoid repeating the same mistakes which were associated with his predecessor Lloyd Muhara.

In another related development, former Solicitor General and Principal Secretary for Justice Getrude Hiwa has taken government to court over his reassignment to the Office of the President and Cabinet as chief Director.

Hiwa, who was replaced by Bruno Kalemba, views the new position as demotion.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).