Controversial Zambia Railways MD appointment

By Daily Revelation Editor 

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) issued the most vague statement, where they literally avoided answering questions in public interest, over the controversy surrounding the appointment of the managing director of Zambia Railways Limited Cuthbert Malindi.

Daily Revelation over a week ago sent a press query to the IDC, seeking to get a response on company insiders and other stakeholders who are questioning the controversial hire of Malindi.

We wanted to know if the IDC authorised ZRL Board chairman Emmanuel Hachipuka to headhunt for the MD at the public entity, as he himself declared after those who were interviewed failed to make it.

We wanted to know under what circumstances headhunting applied, and if it applied under the ZR case.

It was put to the IDC on what they made of the fact that after Hachipuka’s comments to head hunt, someone on the board of ZR who interviewed potential employees ended up taking the job he himself interviewed others for, and how the whole scenario fitted into good corporate governance, which IDC must promote.

But in response, the IDC avoided answering the questions directly, but went ahead to issue a vague statement about how over the past year, significant efforts have been made to strengthen governance structures by ensuring that each subsidiary had an appointed board. How effective the same boards were, IDC did not explain, at least from the questions they were asked specifically about ZR.

They indicated that their role was supervisory and not operational, and were therefore not involved in the appointment of Malindi as the same was the baby of the board

“In addition, IDC requires each entity to sign a Performance Management Contract each year and the Board is required to deliver on those targets. IDC assesses the performance of each Board in line with the Performance Management Contracts,” stated IDC head of corporate communication Namakau Mukelabai. “As a holding company, IDC focuses on providing strategic oversight and guidance without engaging in the day-to-day management of its subsidiaries. This approach reinforces the independence of the subsidiary Boards and ensures operational autonomy in line with global corporate governance standards.”

Okay, let’s go with their argument that they are simply a holding company. They indeed are a holding company of the national assets owned by the Zambian people. Therefore, if there are serious questions being raised about the operations of a public entity, are they just going to pay a blind eye as shareholders without taking corrective measures? If the shareholders have appointed the board and that board is not living up to the professional standards of the company, is it not in the power of the shareholders to take corrective measures in addressing the deficiencies that are being raised about the same board they appointed?

We don’t even need to belabour much here, because clearly, the IDC and the ZR board have simply found themselves entangled. They have no way of explaining themselves out of this entanglement than to issue vague statements that actually don’t made any sense to reasonable people. They have no way of explaining themselves out of this web that has been created at ZRL.

The best they can do is simply to own up. That owning up should involve annulling the MD appointment by calling for fresh interviews that will align with proper corporate governance of how appointments in these public institutions are made, or should be made.

For Zambia Railways, if Hachipuka’s headhunt claim is to hold, he must produce the qualifications and CVs of all the candidates who failed the interviews Malindi chaired, just as they produced Malindi’s own CV. This will enable the Zambian people to get properly informed about the matter. After all, are virtues of integrity and transparency not among the key cornerstones of corporate governance? 

They have been caught pants down, and they just need to own up now. We wonder if Hachipuka will even have the courage to hold the press conference he promised to hold to address this matter.

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