The Malawi Observer has learnt with great dismay and disappointment that the Board for BWB, a parastatal organisation in Blantyre, appointed an alleged thief in the name of Engineer Mavuto Chiipanthenga as the acting CEO after the expiry of the contract for Engineer Daniel Chaweza.
The story appeared on 7th November 2020 on Nyasa Times which stated that the Board for BWB headed by Mr George Nnensa agreed to appoint Chiipanthenga after merciless attacks against the former CEO from alleged “BWB Concerned Employees” through a series of anonymous letters which flooded the social media recently.
However, on 8th November 2020, the online sites were also awash with news that the elevated Director with some other employees had contributed to the plunder of resources at the Board. The story mentioned various individuals including the former Director of Finance, Henri Bakuwa, the former Procurement Manager, Andrew Puleni and one Stainley Bakolo.
It was alleged in the story that Mavuto Chiipanthenga and Stainley Bakolo misappropriated funds for the implementation of the water source project from Mulanje by making unilateral decisions without consulting the supervision team that was formed to oversee the project. This affected the quality of the work and that the project is more like a ‘white elephant.’
It is also alleged that these two individuals with their whole families secretly went to India with sponsorship from the Indian Contractor who was doing the work.
The article also states that Mr Chiipanthenga had constructed modern houses at Machinjiri and Chileka which do not reflect the salaries and benefits they got from Blantyre Water Board during their period at the Board.
This writer wonders why such an individual and their accomplices are given the mandate to run a company which is aimed at serving the people of Malawi, when their aim is to siphon company resources for their own gain.
We agree with the writer of the story that Board Members and Government should look critically on the acts of these people and sanitise BWB so that it serves the people as mandated, otherwise the company’s performance and image will be at stake.
