Ten chief executive officers (CEOs) that failed to timely submit status reports that Vice-President Saulos Chilima requested last month have been heard and cleared on the matter.
In an interview last week, Public Sector Reforms Unit spokesperson McCarthy Mwalwimba said the CEOs were summoned to a hearing in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
Chilima, who is also Minister of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms asked for the status reports during meetings with parastatal heads from the Central and Southern regions last month.
However, out of 66 parastatals that were told to submit the status reports, only 56 submitted on time with the remaining 10 submitting past the agreed deadline.
According to Mwalwimba, when the CEOs were summoned early this month, they gave various reasons before they were cleared.
He said: “They were asked to explain why they did not submit the reports on time. They gave various reasons. Some said it was because of Internet issues while others said their respective officers were sick.”
Mwalwimba said following the reasons the CEOs gave during the hearings, the OPC understood them and the matter was resolved.
However, he said as a way forward after resolving the matter, all CEOs were guided to follow government procedures and agreed timelines.
“Any other defaulting institution will be taken to a much bigger task,” warned Mwalwimba.
The parastatals that made late submissions include Malawi Revenue Authority, Malawi Bureau of Standards, Malawi Housing Corporation and the Malawi Council for the Handicapped.
Others were the Malawi Gaming Board, Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi, Malawi Accountants Board, Malawi National Commission on Unesco, Malawi Institute of Management and the Pesticides Control Board.
During his first meeting with parastatal heads on July 7 at the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, Chilima said the status reports would feed into the 2020/21 National Budget, after which they would look at the country’s long-term development plan.
The Veep noted that the performance of parastatals was a mixed bag characterised by successes and failures; hence, the need for reforms to take effect to turn around misfortunes.
