10 parastatals face discipline
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has directed that 10 parastatal chief executive officers (CEOs) be disciplined for failing to timely submit status reports to the Public Sector Reforms last Friday.
Chilima, who is also Minister of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, demanded the status reports during a meeting of directors of finance and CEOs from the Central and Southern regions two weeks ago.
But according to a statement signed by spokesperson in the Office of the Vice-President Pilirani Phiri, out of 66 parastatals that were expected to submit the reports, only 56 met the deadline.
The statement said nine parastatals made their submissions late, while Malawi Institute of Management—was yet to submit its report as of yesterday.
Reads the statement in part: “Sixty-six parastatals were expected to submit the reports. Out of which, 56 delivered on time with the Small and Medium Enterprises [Smedi] being the first to submit on July 14.”
When contacted yesterday, Public Sector Reforms spokesperson McCarthy Mwalwimba, said the disciplinary process will involve the parastatal CEOs as they are the leaders.
He said: “The CEOs will be disciplined because an institution is run by a leader so any action is based on the leadership. So, it is all about a question of dialogue.”
The disciplinary processes, however, have been ordered at a time when most of the parastatals are yet to have new boards following their dissolution last month.
Mwalwimba said governance processes will be followed in the disciplinary action, adding any disciplinary method or action is based on a contract; hence, the CEOs contracts will be looked into.
According to him, the parastatals that made late submissions include Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) and Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha).
Others are Malawi Gaming Board, Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM), Malawi Accountants Board (MAB), Malawi National Commission on Unesco and Pesticides Control Board.
But when contacted yesterday, Malawi Gaming Board CEO Foster Mulumbe, claimed they submitted their status report on time while MHC spokesperson Ernestina Lunguzi and MRA director of corporate affairs Steve Kapoloma were yet to respond to our questionnaires.
MBS director general Simon Mandala and his deputy Willie Muyila could not be reached by phone.
On her part, Macoha spokesperson Harriet Kachimanga, said they had challenges in coordinating with district officers due to Covid-19 as people are working from home.
The MIM secretariat requested for a questionnaire for its executive director while NMCM registrar Dr. Isabella Musisi could not pick up our phone calls on her known mobile number.
During his first meeting with parastatal heads on July 7 in Lilongwe, the Veep 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.
Chilima 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.
