A former deputy director of finance at Malawi's communications regulator was unfairly dismissed after being blamed for signing two procurement letters without the personal authorisation of the organisation's director general, the Industrial Relations Court has rule
Evin Howard Mwapasa, who spent almost 18 years at the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), was sacked in February 2024 after a disciplinary panel found him guilty of insubordination and negligent discharge of duty.
The charges centred on two letters he signed on 7 February 2022, addressed to suppliers Thengo Investments and Elite Business Equipment, concerning contract price adjustments on broadcasting equipment procured for what is now the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences.
Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Deputy Chairperson Wyson Chamdimba Nkhata found that MACRA had failed to prove either charge, and that the process leading to Mwapasa's dismissal was both substantively and procedurally unfair.
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The court heard that Mwapasa, a chartered accountant who joined MACRA in 2006 as an assistant accountant and rose to deputy director of finance, had signed the letters after consulting and receiving approval from his immediate supervisor, Ben Chitsonga, then director of finance and administration.
Evidence presented at trial showed that an established, if unwritten, administrative practice existed under which senior officers other than the director general had long signed correspondence on his behalf.
The letters themselves, the court found, did not grant final approval for any price increase but requested that the suppliers provide written justification, with the ultimate decision resting with MACRA's Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee, which later considered the suppliers' evidence and approved adjustments of 12%.
Nkhata was critical of MACRA's disciplinary process, noting that a panel had proceeded to recommend Mwapasa's dismissal without hearing from any members of the procurement committee, despite indicating it would do so, and after MACRA's legal department failed to attend the hearing in breach of its own policy.
The judgment also pointed to inconsistencies between the disciplinary report and the termination letter, including an incorrect claim that Mwapasa had not submitted written representations in his defence.
"The process therefore fell below the standard required by section 57(2) of the Employment Act," Nkhata wrote, finding that MACRA had also failed to show it acted with justice and equity, given Mwapasa's clean disciplinary record, his seniority, and the involvement of the wider procurement committee in the decisions concerned.
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The court ruled that Mwapasa is entitled to compensation for unfair dismissal and severance allowance, both to be assessed at a later hearing.
His claim for reimbursement of tax deducted from termination benefits was dismissed for lack of proof, as was a counterclaim by MACRA for MK4.5m in costs, which the court found had effectively been abandoned during proceedings.
