Liabunya set to leave Egenco

Embattled Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) chief executive officer William Liabunya is set to leave the institution following the expiry of his contract.

In his message bidding farewell to the electricity generating company available to The Nation, Liabunya outlined a number of achievements the institution has registered since he joined the company in 2017.

Among the achievements he outlined the construction and commissioning of Tedzani IV 19.1 megawatts (MW) Power Station, construction and commissioning of the 13.1 MW Likoma and Chizumulu Islands Solar PV and the signing of a contract for the construction of a 10 MW Solar PV plant at Nanjoka in Salima.

Others include Egenco’s award as the best trading State-owned company by the Malawi Government, restoration of Kapichira’s 129.6 MW, hosting of the Association of Power Utilities in Africa and capital dredging projects and reclamation of pond storages at both Nkula and Tedzani.

Said Liabunya: “We, together, made Egenco what it is today, and I remain with that sense of satisfaction as I bid farewell to such a formidable team.

“While I may be stepping away as chief executive officer of this great company, I am confident that the spirit of innovation and excellence that defines Egenco will continue to thrive.”

He praised Egenco’s management, describing it as a resilient and capable team and that his belief in them is unwavering.

Liabunya further expressed his profound gratitude for leading an institution built from scratch and managing to make some meaningful progress in both the short and long-term.

The outgoing CEO and the company secretary Videlia Mluwira have been on forced leave pending a forensic investigative audit at the institution which was commissioned by the Malawi Government late last year.

In Liabunya’s absence, Egenco management announced in a circular that its director of operations Maxon Chitawo would assume the role of CEO on an interim basis.

But hours after the announcement, Liabunya obtained an injunction at the Industrial Relations Court restraining the institution from sending him on forced leave.

But with the Attorney General Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda joining the case, subsequent court processes did not favour Liabunya and Mluwira as they still remained on forced leave.

The two were sent on forced leave to pave the way for investigations to be conducted pertaining to how Egenco management handled the effects of cyclones Gombe and Ana that destroyed machinery at Kapichira Hydro Power Station which subsequently led to persistent power outages.

On May 17 2023, President Lazarus Chakwera accused Egenco management of lack of urgency when handling the restoration of Kapichira Hydro Power Station, which took a year and three months to complete.

The President accused Egenco management of being indecisive when he presided over the opening of the 33rd Malawi International Trade Fair and inauguration of the Malawi Bureau of Standards laboratory and office complex.

He said: “I gave the management at Egenco a deadline of Christmas [2022] to have it restored in the hope that this would give them a sense of urgency to act with speed, but Christmas came and went and they failed to deliver.

“When this happened, I expected that the Egenco board that I personally appointed would take action against those managers at Egenco who failed to deliver, but it has now been five months since that deadline was missed and I have heard of no consequences for anyone at Egenco.”