* Including professional material records qualifications in business administration, land management and science
* Experience in valuation of industrial and other assets, and substantial public-service and institutional-board experience
* An unjustified dismissal for alleged gross misconduct is capable of affecting the trust on which his professional work depends
By Duncan Mlanjira
Yeremia Chihana, who is demanding a whopping-K193 billion as compensation following his dismissed as Blantyre Water Board (BWB) chief executive officer (CEO), determined the package upon his 3-year contract from April 13, 2026 to April 12, 2029.
In the letter from his lawyers, Gobz & Rechtswissenschaft Legal Practitioners, to BWB Board of Directors that was issued on Thursday, October 8, further indicates that Chihana’s “professional material records qualifications in business administration; land management and science; experience in valuation of industrial and other assets”.
It also includes “substantial public-service and institutional-board experience” and that “his property valuations illustrate the nature and scale of his professional work”.
“These materials are relied upon as context for his vocation, standing and earning capacity,” says the document.
“His complaint is that an unjustified dismissal for alleged gross misconduct is capable of affecting the trust on which his professional work depends.”
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The lawyers further indicate that “payments and benefits already received, relevant mitigation and legally required adjustments must be credited”.
“A full-term reference calculation is not a demand to be paid twice for the months already remunerated.
“We further claim collection costs at 15% under the ‘Collection of monies’ entry in the First Schedule to the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners (Remuneration) Rules, 2025, on the amount properly recoverable and collected, to the extent that the provision applies to the sums in question.
“The basis and amount must be agreed or determined if disputed. Any separate claim to litigation costs will be made only on a legally available basis, including the applicable restrictions in section 72 of the Labour Relations Act, and without duplication.”
The former legislator in the National Assembly thus asks the BWB within seven days after receipt, it should “arrange payment of the compensation demanded and the properly established additional sums, or deliver a concrete, authorised proposal for resolution”.
“The Board should identify an officer or legal representative with authority to engage substantively.”
“To the extent that an applicable internal procedure requires prompt written notification of a challenge, this letter also gives formal notice of our client’s objection to the dismissal.
“This reservation is not an agreement to defer the Industrial Relations Court claim, to seek reinstatement, or to extend any statutory period.”
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The lawyers add that in the event of a default of a satisfactory resolution, their “instructions are to institute and pursue proceedings in the Industrial Relations Court for unfair dismissal, breach of the applicable employment terms, compensation and the other remedies within that Court’s jurisdiction, complying with the applicable procedural and conciliation requirements”.
“We will not allow negotiations, handover or requests for documents to imperil any filing period.
“This open demand does not constitute an admission that any particular allegation has been proved, and no payment or handover will settle the dispute without an express written settlement authorised by our client.”
The letter is copied to the Attorney General, which the lawyers say its “for information and such lawful legal advice or settlement facilitation as may be appropriate in relation to a statutory corporation”.
“The demand is addressed to BWB as employer; copying the Attorney General does not assert that the Government has admitted or assumed BWB’s liability.“
After formalising the dismissal, BWB wrote to Chihana requesting him to hand over the official institution vehicle, a Ford Ranger; a laptop, a Samsung S26 Ultra smartphone and other outstanding official matters by October 9 — including to vacate institutional house by November 7, 2026.
In response, Chihana indicates that he is prepared to cooperate with an orderly handover of the identified BWB property in his possession, custody or control only upon payment of the demanded compensation.
The BWB is being told that the handover “should be documented by a signed inventory recording the vehicle registration and condition, keys and accessories, equipment serial numbers, official records delivered, and any item not held by [Chihana].
“Our client’s compensation claim is not advanced as a lien over BWB’s vehicle or equipment. He must not, however, be required to sign an admission of misconduct, an acknowledgment of an unparticularised debt, a waiver of proceedings, or a full and final discharge as a condition of handover or payment of earned remuneration.
“Every receipt should record that delivery is without admission of liability and without prejudice to his disputed employment claims.
“Before any equipment is reset, reallocated, wiped or subjected to deletion, BWB must preserve the relevant electronic information and audit trail.
“Please arrange a supervised process for identifying personal information and legally privileged communications without unauthorised deletion of official material or disclosure of personal-account credentials.
“Official access should be transferred securely through the authorised information-technology officer.
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“Our client will not remove, alter or destroy BWB’s evidence; equally, BWB should provide lawful access, agreed copies or an independent preservation arrangement for material reasonably required for the employment dispute, subject to privilege and third-party confidentiality, in case amicable settlement of the claim fails.”
On the institutional house, BWB is being asked to “confirm the occupation instrument and agree an orderly transition, joint inspection, treatment of personal effects and key-handover arrangements in advance of the stated 7 November 2026 date, together with any necessary extension expressly agreed in writing.
“Our client does not claim an indefinite right of occupation. His cooperation does not waive any housing-related contractual claim.
“Nothing in this correspondence consents to earlier forcible exclusion, removal of belongings, disconnection of services or any other measure not lawfully authorised,” say the lawyers.
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