The Human Rights Defenders Coalition has written the office of the Ombudsman to take a proactive approach by widening the net and probe all parastatalsexecutive recruitment that have been made since the Tonse Alliance Government took over.
This follows a recent investigative report on the alleged unprocedural and irregular recruitment of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Chief executive officer by the Board which its report release was yesterday stopped by the Court.
According to a letter dated 11 November and signed by HRDC leadership, the findings of the investigative report on the recruitment of the CEO at MERA is a serious red flag and has exposed lapses in governance systems within parastatal Boards where due diligence has been disregarded amidst allegations of nepotism and cronyism in the public sector.
“HRDC believes in fairness in the recruitment processes in public entities, hence our request for your honorable office to probe all the recruitment of parastatal Chief executives to ascertain whether due recruitment processes were followed, whether there was no political influence, favoritism of whatever kind for some candidates.” Reads part of the letter.
HRDC also calls on the office of the Ombudsman to investigate whether the candidates recruited have the pre-requisite qualifications based on the institutional policy requirements for such positions.