YESTERDAY, we carried a report titled High Court reinstates college principal.
NewsDay Editorial
In a country where institutional order is hardly respected, it was refreshing to read the High Court ruling in which Justice Tendai Uchena ordered the stay of the abrupt transfer of Belvedere Technical Teachers’ College acting principal Patrick Chihoro by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) on no valid disciplinary or administrative grounds.
In fact, the purported transfer has victimisation written all over it, and Justice Uchena, in his learned legal wisdom, saw the bareness of it all.
Indeed, the transfer was effected in record time. The whole process was done in a matter of days, raising suspicion because the world over government wheels turn slowly.
We are not trying to prejudge or influence the outcome of the case because it is ongoing, but we can legitimately comment on the issues raised and arising.
The background to the whole saga explains this undue haste. In his court application, Chihoro said soon after his appointment as acting principal in September 2012, he unearthed several corrupt activities bordering on gross financial irregularities and mismanagement of college funds.
His lawyers submitted: “Applicant [Chihoro] acted in good faith in unearthing massive corruption at the college and 1st respondent [CSC] had sent a team of investigators to the college to investigate the fraud allegations raised by the applicant, but to his surprise, he is the one who has to be transferred and is having to face charges which have not been legally communicated to him at a time when he was expecting to be rewarded for a job well done for the role he had taken in unearthing massive corruption at the college.”
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The last time we heard, the hounding-out was orchestrated by the now-ubiquitous Zanu PF youths probably hired by someone anxious to stop Chihoro from spilling more beans.
The hasty forced transfer, it can be deduced, was calculated to silence him and for the serious allegations to disappear.
Chihoro himself should be commended, highly so at that, for standing his ground and refusing to be intimidated.
Good guys are persecuted while bad guys are let of the hook. What has become of our society?
It’s as clear as daylight that something is grossly amiss here. The CSC must be condemned for endorsing the blatantly unjust decision to force Chihoro out.
This was not a legitimate transfer, but barely disguised hounding-out of Chihoro for doing the right and proper thing.
CSC chairperson Mariyawanda Nzuwah should be brought before an inquiry to answer to this because he owes the nation a lot of explanation.
There are no legal grounds for the forced transfer of Chihoro, period. So, the CSC must desist from this shameful conduct forthwith.
