Nine Months of DPP, Plenty of CEOs and Boards, But Only One is Actually Working – A Salute to Kaipa.

Listen up, my fellow Malawians!

Nine months. That’s how long it has been since the DPP government took the reins on 16th September last year. Nine whole months of promises to clean up the mess in our parastatals. New CEOs and new boards were appointed left, right and centre more than the number of promises a politician makes during campaign season. Fresh faces, they told us. New brooms to sweep away the deep rot that had turned these institutions into personal milking cows.

ESCOM CEO Eng William Kaipa.

But my friends, if new brooms are supposed to sweep clean, then most of these CEOs and their boards arrived holding fancy handles but forgot to bring the actual bristles. They are still sitting pretty in their big offices, drinking tea, attending workshops at fancy hotels, and writing thick reports titled “Strategic Vision 2030” while the same old corruption continues dancing Manganje in the corridors.

Except one.

At ESCOM, CEO Engineer William Kaipa and his board under Chairperson Alfred Nhlema are not playing the usual Malawian Nthano of Sikusinja ndi Gwenembe. The man has shown real muscle. While other CEOs and boards are busy warming seats and enjoying the big 4×4 vehicles, Kaipa has gone straight for the throat of the K8 billion motor vehicle tyres scandal.

Eight billion kwacha! On tyres!

Let that number sink in like heavy rain on a thatched roof. While ordinary Malawians are still being punished with long hours of load-shedding, someone at ESCOM discovered they had enough money to buy tyres for the entire government fleet twice over from one supplier, Mapeto Tyres. The smell of that deal is stronger than a three-day dead dog lying on the street in the hot sun.

But Kaipa didn’t do the usual dance. He didn’t call for a committee. He didn’t say “we are investigating.” He didn’t write a polite memo that would later disappear. No. He suspended the Director of Finance, Brian Ndisale, and ordered all those hired vehicles to be returned to the suppliers immediately. That, my brothers and sisters, is what we call action. That is leadership with balls of steel in a country where most big men prefer to negotiate quietly until the story dies.

Now, what about the others? 

Look at Blantyre Water Board under Yeremiah Chihana and its board,busy fighting each other like cats and dogs in a sack, with suspensions, court injunctions and power struggles everywhere. Lilongwe Water Board is quiet like a graveyard at midnight. MACRA with Mayamiko Nkoloma silent but busy global trotting. NOCMA with Emmanuel Matapa not a whisper. Malawi Posts under Henry Shamu sleeping. MBC with Brian Banda just collecting salary. Malawi Housing Corporation, EGENCO, MBS, Cannabis Regulatory Authority… all these new CEOs and their boards were appointed with big fanfare.Snoring. 

Alfred Nhlema- ESCOM Board Chair

Their quietness… what does it mean, mabwana? Does it mean there was suddenly no rot in those institutions? Has the system swallowed them whole like a python with a fat goat? Are they not on top of their game? Or are they busy bootlicking the appointing authority, afraid to step on powerful toes? Have the sausages of comfort and big allowances made them forget why they were put there?

My friends, this quietness is dangerous. It either means everything is okay (which we all know is a big fat lie), or these CEOs and boards have been captured and can no longer breathe fresh air of reform. Time is running out! How much more time do you people need to show you are on top of your game? Six months? One year? Two years? 

Fish out the corrupt officials! Denounce corruption openly! Cancel the dubious contracts! Suspend the thieves! Demand value for every tambala of public money! Or are you just there to warm seats, drive big cars, and wait for another reshuffle while pretending to work?

CEO William Kaipa and his board at ESCOM have set the pace. They have reminded all of us that being a CEO and being a board chairperson is not about the big title on the door or the fat allowance. It is about having the courage to swing the big stick when you see thieves at work.

So to the other sleeping CEOs and their boards: wake up! The honeymoon is over. Stop writing reports and start acting. The people are watching. Malawians did not vote for more of the same.We want results. We want accountability.

Kaipa and his board have lit the fire. The rest of you… stop warming your hands by it and start cooking. The country is hungry for real change.

Escom Management headed by CEO Eng William kaipa Interacting with the minister of Energy and Mining Jean Mathanga (file photo)

Otherwise, history will remember that in the first nine months of the DPP era, only one CEO and board at ESCOM actually did something.

The rest were just nice, quiet, expensive decorations.