Narrow streets neglected to pits. Blocked drains with shattered slabs. A money van stuck in yawning manhole spilling sewage. Vehicles scrambling bumper-to-bumper for shrinking parking space. Honking and fuming in incessant traffic jams. Gushing sewers polluting open spaces, waterways and air.
Welcome to Limbe Town in Blantyre where illicit vendors selling clothes along the jagged streets and people discarding leftovers anyhow contradict the tone set by Blantyre City Mayor Isaac Jomo Osman.
City authorities do not seem to be in a hurry to fix the mess or fine polluters.
It is just city rangers on the prowl here and there, collecting city council fees from markets, shops and scarce carparks.
From the look of things, only Jomo seems to care, at least if his solo crusade on the breakdown in service delivery is anything to go by.
The new mayor rose from a troubled boyhood on the streets of Blantyre’s busy town to become the city’s mayor.
Since winning the mayoral race on November 14 last year, the Ntopwa Ward councillor has frequently returned to the streets to clean up and meet homeless children.
For two months, he has been photographed ordering shop owners to tidy their surroundings and urging street-connected children to avoid crime.
On Monday last week, he was pictured rebuking latecomers at Blantyre City Council Civic Centre, a day before he joined ground labourers to clear drains at Maselema.
The boots-on-the-ground spree has won him rare praises beyond Blantyre.
Even doubters who questioned his low education attainment as a dizzying downgrade from the standards set by his predecessors, notably private practice lawyer Noel Chalamanda between 2024 and 2027 now agree that action speaks louder than academic papers.
“The new mayor may not be learned, but I’m impressed how he is shaking up council officials and service providers to keep Blantyre clean and put people’s well-being first. We lacked a mayor like him for years. Can’t the councillors leave him to be a mayor for five years, instead of voting again after two and a half years?” asked Mayamiko Yonas, who arrived in Blantyre in 2007.
She waxed lyrical about Osman’s work ethic on Wednesday morning when she passed him and some city council workers clearing choked drains along the Henry Masauko Chipembere Highway. Passers-by whistled, honked and chanted praise of the mayor, who promises never to relent until his tenure expires.
However, the continued mess in the city begs questions: Is Jomo’s hands-on approach bearing the desired fruit? Is it even sustainable? Does the mayor spend time in his air-conditioned office to strengthen his council’s systems and teams to continue delivering quality services regardless of who is watching or at the helm?
Groupies point at the enduring mess as remains of a culture that stained Jomo’s hometown for three decades.
However, governance experts are already asking: When will the camera-ready symbolic outings give way to strong institutions that will deliver quality service regardless of who is in control?
To them, it might be just a matter of time before the newly awakened council slumps back to doing business as usual—especially when he is away or out of power.
Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences lecturer in organisational behaviour and strategic management Sellina Mposa said the growing wave of “the boots-on-the-ground” leadership approach by senior public officials reflects more than personal enthusiasm as it reveals organisational cultures weakened by unstable performance systems, poor accountability, and chronic gaps between policy and execution.
In a written response yesterday, she said: “When leaders step in to do the work of their juniors, it signals institutions where authority does not reliably translate into execution. While such hands-on leadership can deliver short-term results, it is not a sustainable management model. Organisations do not thrive on the efforts of lone heroes rather, they are sustained through the strength of well-designed systems.
“Sustainable people management and service delivery require clear delegation, robust performance management, accountability for non‑performance, and an empowered middle management. Public institutions should therefore convert this moment‑driven energy into lasting structural reform by strengthening supervision, rewarding competence, sanctioning neglect, and institutionalising standards rather than personalities.”
Mposa said in the case of Jomo, his actions demonstrated commendable urgency and a strong symbolic commitment to civic leadership.
“The real leadership test, however, will be whether his example builds long-lasting systems or remains a showcase of excellence in an otherwise change resistant environment,” she said.
Media and political science scholar Chimwemwe Tsitsi told The Nation in an interview that there is a thin line between a burning desire to fix broken systems and a publicity stunt.
He said: “When a high profile figure goes out to get the work done, it must be backed with research. If the findings show deep-rooted laxity is affecting the quality of services for the public, you are justified.”
Tsitsi reckons that the mayor went overboard by openly rebuking workers for late-coming as some may have had good reasons not to be in office on time and they needed not explain themselves at the gate.
In an interview, Osman could not reveal the action he has taken on the latecomers exposed in a widely shared video and staff salaried to do the work he is photographed doing on the filthy streets of Blantyre.
He said: “That’s an internal matter, but I will certainly take action. Unfortunately, what is happening at Blantyre City Council has become an acceptable culture among service providers across the country.
“I have been observing this business as usual mentality for years, so time has come to act. Someone has to set the tone and lead the way. I will continue doing this until my term is over. I will go to every service provider, whether it’s a public institution or private business, because our people deserve the best.”
Osman cuts the image of an omnipresent leader in the line of fallen Vice-President Saulos Chilima, his successor Michael Usi and ex-Minister Vitumbiko Mumba who seemed to find more relevance on the road, not in their marble offices.
However, political scientist Boniface Dulani warns that this may not just be a legacy of the late John Pombe Magufuli’s populist leadership in Tanzania, but a call to clarify the roles of high-ranking officials.
He said: “We have seen this populist agenda from ministers and Vice-Presidents. We appoint people without clear terms of reference, so some of them have no idea what their job entails. As a result, you see them going around doing the work best done by their juniors.
“To them, it makes political sense as was the case with Magufuli in Tanzania. However, leadership is not about individuals, but strengthening institutions and systems. Individuals die or get fired, but institutions remain. So we have to strengthen the systems so that institutions can continue serving people better regardless of who is in control.”
National Initiative for Civic Education Trust executive director Gray Kalindekafe said the rise of senior officials who personally go on the ground to verify service delivery personify “a strong desire to demonstrate visibility, urgency and public accountability” associated with quick gains.
He said where leaders become role-models committed to achieving the desired change by being physically present, it can produce short‑term benefits by boosting morale, accelerating problem identification and signals seriousness to both citizens and staff.
Kalindekafe recommends effective management systems with clear roles, defined boundaries, effective delegation and empowered middle management.
From his perspectives, there has to be a cut-off point to Osman’s praiseworthy outings as institutions function best when their parts—strategic leaders, middle managers and operational units—work in harmony.
Osman is also president of Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) and, during his tour of Mzuzu City wearing the Malga hat, he rebuked Mzuzu City Council authorities for allowing garbage to rot near markets.
