Employees at the Malawi Judiciary have accused Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda of breaching recruitment procedures by hiring his son and nephew at the Judiciary.
This is contained in a letter which the staff have written to Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), ombudsman, Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) and MAJAM.
The employees in their letter claim that Nyirenda hired his own biological son Wanangwa Nyirenda as an intern for research department at the Judiciary without any interviews.
Wanangwa was promoted to the position of Senior Resident Magistrate a year after joining the Judiciary.
The workers in their letter also allege that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which Nyirenda chairs appointed his nephew Tamanda Nyimba as magistrate.
Nyimba who is also personal assistant to the Chief Justice studied law outside Malawi but never sat for bar exams in order to qualify for the position of a professional magistrate and to practice in Malawi.
The concerned group argues that some of the people who are employed in the research department and magistracy sat for bar exams and are qualified for the position of a professional magistrate.
There are also concerns that P4 positons which fell vacant at the Judiciary were offered by the JSC to relations of some members of the commission. The people who were offered the position did not attend interviews.
The accusations come months after Nyirenda survived an attempt to fire him from his position.
In June this year, the Democratic Progressive Party administration claimed that Nyirenda had accumulated over 500 days of leave and should go on leave pending retirement.
The order for Nyirenda to go on leave was withdrawn by the Tonsee Alliance administration after the DPP was booted out of power.
