Blantyre Water Board (BWB) has suspended Chief Executive Officer Yeremia Chihana with immediate effect, pending a disciplinary inquiry, the Board announced in a letter signed by Chairman Stanley Chirwa.
The suspension, issued under Clause 3(d) of Chihana’s Contract of Employment (13 April 2026 – 12 April 2029), followed a Board resolution at an extraordinary meeting on 28 August 2026.
The Board stresses the move is an interim administrative measure and not a finding of misconduct, and that the inquiry must begin within 14 days.
The Board cites three allegations. First, that Chihana wrote to the Secretary to the Treasury on 21 April 2026 — copied to the World Bank and European Union — seeking financing for a BWB “Institutional Modernisation Programme” (estimated at USD 11.4 million, with BWB/Government counterpart financing of about USD 2.2 million), falsely claiming the programme had full Board endorsement via a resolution from a 15 March 2026 board meeting the Board says never happened. Second, that on 18 August 2026 Chihana appointed Lon Zizwe as acting Director of Finance without Board approval. Third, that on 23 July 2026 Chihana obtained a temporary MK500,000,000 overdraft facility from First Capital Bank without Board knowledge or approval, to be regularised by 23 August 2026.
Supporting documents attached to the notice corroborate the timeline: Chihana’s 21 April 2026 letter to the Treasury explicitly invokes “Board Resolution No. BWB/BD/RES/003/2026” from the 15 March 2026 meeting; his 18 August 2026 letter appoints Zizwe for a two-month acting term with an allowance; and a First Capital Bank email chain confirms the MK500 million overdraft approval, with Chihana replying to acknowledge receipt.
In a 24 August 2026 letter, Chirwa rejected the Zizwe appointment as “ultra vires and therefore invalid,” stating appointment authority rests solely with the Board, that Director of Finance Charles Msusa had already been acting in that role since a 12 February 2026 Board decision (after the substantive officeholder was placed on leave pending a forensic audit), and that a similar unauthorised request by Chihana to the Comptroller of Statutory Corporations on 2 July 2026 sought to fill other director posts that were already staffed. Chirwa demanded a written explanation from Chihana by 25 August 2026 and referenced an earlier, already-answered request to the Auditor General for a forensic audit.
Chihana has been ordered to cooperate with the inquiry, preserve all records, avoid contact with witnesses, and hand over all Board property and access devices to the Acting Director of Human Resources and Administration by 31 August 2026. The Board notes the matters are separate from ongoing Judicial Review Cause No. 9 of 2026.
Chihana was appointed as the CEO for Blantyre Water Board in April and his contract runs until 2029.
