MPC to offer e-services in repositioning drive

Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has said it will start offering e-services in its efforts to adapt to changing times.

Currently, MPC’s strategy mainly focuses on physical and financial services in which the former account for the bulk of its profits.

However, with a proper and well managed introduction of e-post, e-finance, e-commerce, e-government and e-learning services, this balance is likely to shift significantly to the advantage of MPC, which has in recent times faced pressure from its competitors.

Speaking in Blantyre on Friday on the sidelines of MPC E-post Strategy and Action Plan that spans from 2016 to 2020, post master general Andrew Kumbatira said the strategy is part of adapting to the modern Malawi in transforming the corporation into an e-post.

“With the developments now, we feel we can turn and begin to rely on technology and see how best we can reposition ourselves in terms of our processes and business approach to ensure that our staff fit into the new e-world,” he said.

Kumbatira said the e-service strategy will strive towards offering modern services to Malawians, which will include access to immigration, road traffic and safety services, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), registrar of companies and national registration bureau services online.

He said while e-government services will be realised through the deployment of one-stop service centres at post offices, the universal access to information and communication technologies will be partly achieved by implementing public information access centres in the nationwide postal physical infrastructure.

The strategy has been developed by Malawi Government with financial and technical support from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Speaking at the same event, chief director for tourism in the Ministry of Information, Tourism and Civic Education Dorothy Tembo said there is need for MPC to have a new look.

“MPC acknowledges the urgent need for developing and implementing e-services. This is so because the traditional letter service has been declining by more than two percent per annum largely due to electronic substitution and private sector competition,” she said.