Government was irregularly paying former RBM Governor Kabambe full monthly salaries to instead of pensions

* Was being done by the Government despite two earlier reminders when he was RBM Governor

* Through his attorney, T.F. & Partners dated November 10, 2020 and January 8, 2021 respectively

* In which he had asked Government to stop paying him the full monthly salaries and substitute it with the required monthly pensions

By Duncan Mlanjira

Dalitso Kabambe — who worked in the Civil Service in various top positions before his appointment as the 13th Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor in 2017 — was still being paid his monthly salary from Malawi Government Economic Service instead of the required monthly pensions.

And three years after leaving his position as RBM Governor, the Government was still paying Kabambe the said monthly salary, which forced him to send a third reminder through the Office of the President & Cabinet in a letter dated April 20, 2023.

This was being done by the Government despite two earlier reminders when he was Governor — through his attorney, T.F. & Partners dated November 10, 2020 and January 8, 2021 respectively — in which he had asked Government to stop paying him the full monthly salaries and substitute it with the required monthly pensions.

In the April 2023 letter, Kabambe emphasized that he had previously sent two reminders, saying: “I was made to retire from the Civil Service on 21st April, 2017 by virtue of my appointment as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi and that Government should have paid me all my retirement dues including monthly pensions as my service was on permanent and pensionable terms in the Civil Service.

“Surprisingly, rather than paying me the retirement dues and monthly pensions, Government opted to commence paying me monthly salaries from end November 2020 till to-date.

“I, therefore, wish to reiterate my position that what I need to be paid are my retirement dues as at 21st April, 2017 and monthly pensions and that all salaries which have been paid to me since November 2020 should be netted off from the retirement dues.

“I further wish to demand that from this date onwards, no further salaries should be deposited into my personal account domiciled at Standard Bank. Should Government continue to pay me those salaries into this account, I will be forced to either close the account entirely or put a stop order to it.”

He stressed that he had never demanded Government to pay him salaries since he left the Civil Service on April 21, 2017 while emphasizing that he should no longer been paid the said salaries but rather settle his retirement dues and substitute it with monthly pensions.

Kabambe, a development economist, was appointed RBM Governor by former President Peter Mutharika having worked in the Malawi Government Economic Service for some 19 years from 1998.

He held different positions in the Civil Service such as Principal Economist; Chief Economist; Deputy Director of Economic Planning; and Budget Director in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning & Development.

He also served as the Director of Planning & Policy Development at the Ministry of Health from 2013 to 2015, where he was also in charge of the national health budget and also served as Secretary for Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation for close to two years.

He was replaced as RBM Governor by Wilson Banda on July 9, 2020 by President Lazarus Chakwera before he went public to announce his decision to join active politics in December 2020 when he was unveiled as a member of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP).

Kabambe intends to contest for the post of DPP presidency to stand for the 2025 national Presidential election and it is yet to be known if he will still go against Peter Mutharika, whose candidacy has been endorsed by the opposition party.

When he was Governor, it came to the surface that Kabambe was a receiving a monthly salary at K24 million but he defended it in the media, saying it was approved by the Bank’s board in line with the Reserve Bank of Malawi Act of Parliament and his years of service.

However, analysts observed that the forensic audit that leaked Kabambe’s salary was political owing to his decision to join active politics.

In May, 2021, the Lilongwe Water Board released names of owners of residences with illegal water connections in local newspapers in an unprecedented ‘name and shame’ campaign in which Kabambe was mentioned — also seen as to tarnish his political image.

In December 2021, he was accused of manipulating accounts to obtain a loan from the International Monetary Fund while he was RBM Governor.

Kabambe holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Development Economics from  Imperial College, University of London which he obtained in 2008 and 2001 respectively. He got his first degree from the University of Malawi in 1998.