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Chaponda wants ministry to lead in innovations

Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda has warned his subjects against negligence; saying their work rate is directly proportional to the country’s social-economic growth.
He was speaking on Tuesday evening at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe when the ministry unveiled its Citizen Service Charter, and a new website.
The event preceded the launch of the ministry’s two key policy documents in the National Agriculture and the National Irrigation policies that State President Peter Mutharika was slated to launch at the Bingu International Convention Centre in the capital on Wednesday.
Chaponda called the introduction of the customer service charter as the necessary evil to expose the strengths and weaknesses of the ministry in relation to public relations decorum.

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Chaponda: With this charter, we shall be answerable to the Office of the President and Cabinet

“With this charter, we shall be answerable to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) through the Operational Performance Agreement and our clients and customers, alike,” the minister said.
He therefore challenged his staff to always strive for a lead in innovations, both at personal or departmental levels, to make the ministry tick; adding the performance appraisals proposed in the Public Reforms will shortly expose loafers at the ministry.
“We should be aware that as a ministry, we hold the foundation of government and the entire nation. It is therefore imperative that sometimes, what we say should be happening. Otherwise, there is no need to come up with some well-designed concepts and documents with little or no action to show for it. With me this time around, you snooze, you lose.”
According to Deputy Director in the ministry responsible for Information Technology (IT) Frank Sajiwa, the website will be another option in communication to help reach farmers.
“But this time, we should also be reaching out to the wider audience some of whom can be our partners and fellow policy stakeholders.”
However, skepticism remains as regards the sustainability of the website after reports indicate that most websites for government ministries and departments are rarely updated, let alone running; a development Chaponda himself admitted and attributed to “the laissez-faire approach to issues in the public sector” which he argues must stop.

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