The board of National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) has challenged ombudsman Grace Malera’s termination of contract of its deputy chief executive officer Helen Buluma, saying she was duly appointed.
This comes as in September this year, Ombudsman Malera, terminated Buluma’s contract saying investigations into her appointment indicated that she was appointed without following procedures in 2019 by the then President Peter Mutharika.
However, after a month of silence on the matter, the NOCMA board through its chairperson Collen Zamba who is also Secretary to the President and Cabinet, has challenged the ombudsman’s decision on the nullification of Buluma’s position.
According to a letter which we have seen and has gone viral on social, being addressed to the ombudsman, NOCMA board resolved to retain Buluma as Acting Chief Executive Officer claiming her appointment was clean.
In the letter, Zamba said NOCMA directors came to a conclusion that Buluma should be allowed to complete her four month contract which runs from 1st September to December 2022 and thereafter her position will be announced vacant and will be advertised for new officer.
“Summary of actions taken by the board: to retain Ms Hellen Buluma in her position as Acting Chief Executive Officer of NOCMA on her new four (4) months contract which runs from 1st September 2022 to December 2022.
“To pay Ms Buluma all her terminal benefits including gratuity in relation to her three (3) year employment contract which ended on 25th August, 2022 on the basis that she rendered full service to company on the said contract for a continuous period of three (3) years,” reads part of the letter.
The directors indicated that they have submitted the report in the spirit of ensuring that they promote the rule of law and principles of fairness and recognise section 43(a) of the constitution.
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