Escom suspends finance chief over K8bn tyres deal

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has suspended director of finance Brian Ndisale over alleged flouting of procedures in the procurement of K8 billion worth of motor vehicle tyres from Mapeto Tyres last September. Escom chief public relations and communications officer Pilirani Phiri in an interview confirmed the suspension, but could not provide finer details. “All I can confirm is that the CEO moved swiftly to effect the suspension to pave the way for investigations,” he said.

The Nation sources confided that the procurement in question is under investigation for possible breaches of procedure and poor planning. “The quantity of tyres purchased exceeds operational needs with some expected to expire before being used,” said a source within Escom. The source further said that new Escom CEO William Kaipa suspended Ndisale to allow an independent investigation to proceed without any interference.

Details of the contract The Nation has seen show that the deal to supply the tyres was awarded to Mapeto Tyres as a single supplier in September 2025 contrary to policy at the time, which required that multiple suppliers should benefit. The procurement emanates from an April 17 2025 advert, placed in the local press, which invited companies to supply the tyres. Reads the advert: “The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi [Escom], a State-owned company has budgeted funds to be used for supply and delivery of motor vehicle tyres on framework agreement.

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“Bidding will be conducted in accordance with National Competitive Bidding [NC] procedures specified in the Malawi Public Procurement Act, 2025.” In procurement, framework agreement refers to a long-term, legally binding arrangement between one or more buyers and suppliers, which defines the terms over a set period to allow for efficiency and speed without requiring a new, full tender process for each transaction. Our source said Ndisale was suspended to pave the way for investigations into how the contract ended up with Mapeto Tyres, a single supplier who received a Local Purchasing Order (LPO) soon after the procurement advert. Ndisale did not respond to The Nation calls, seven in all, between Thursday and Saturday.

Questions sent to him via WhatsApp and short message service (SMS) platforms were also not responded to. On the other hand, Mapeto Tyres operations manager Kabir Ishmail, in a written response to The Nation questionnaire, said the company participated in an open tender for a framework agreement to supply tyres to Escom.

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