* The quantity of the tyres purchased exceeded operational needs with some are expected to expire before being used
* Whose contract to supply was awarded to Mapeto Tyres as a single supplier, contrary to policy at the time, which required that multiple suppliers should benefit
By Duncan Mlanjira
Newly-appointed Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), William Kaipa, who was appointed by the Board of Directors to-lead-transformation-at-the-company-and-not-to-manage-continuity/, continues to sanitise the corporation as he has discovered violations of procurement of K8 billion worth of motor vehicle tyres bought from Mapeto Tyres in September last year.
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He has since reportedly suspended director of finance, Brian Ndisale over alleged flouting of procedures, a development that has been confirmed by chief public relations & communications officer Pilirani Phiri in an interview with The Nation.
Phiri could not provide finer details to The Nation, only indicating that the decision to suspend Ndisale it to pave the way for further investigations.
The Nation reports that the quantity of the tyres purchased exceeded operational needs with some are expected to expire before being used — whose contract to supply was awarded to Mapeto Tyres as a single supplier, contrary to policy at the time, which required that multiple suppliers should benefit.
“The procurement emanates from an April 17 2025 advert, placed in the local press, which invited companies to supply the tyres,” reports The-Nation-Publication.
Soon after being introduced to his executive management team, CEO Kaipa hit-the-ground-running by issuing a number directives as an urgent measure to restore the power utility service provider’s “operational stability and service delivery performance”.
The moratorium on functional review implementation placed on all outstanding and unimplemented recommendations included:
* No further role changes, redeployments, or grading adjustments to be effected;
* No structural changes to be implemented without express approval of the CEO; and
* All ongoing implementation process must be halted immediately.
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On immediate organisational realignment, Kaipa directe all executives to:
* Identify employees whose redeployment or demotion resulted in loss of critical skills or operational inefficiencies
* Reinstate such employees to their previous substantive roles and grades, where justified; and
* Prioritise critical areas including System Control Centre operations, faults management, network operations, and customer service.
Expected outcomes of his directive includes “stabilised operations; improved fault response times; restored technical capacity; and improved staff mandate”.
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