BLANTYRE, Sept 9: Working hours for Malawi’s nearly 170,000 civil servants have been amended: from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm with a one hour lunch break.
The change is one of the measures President Arthur Peter Mutharika nodded to on Tuesday for immediate implementation in the Malawi Public Service, in continued pursuit of the public service reform process to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the Public Service, the Office of the President and Cabinet |(OPC) said.
The OPC said “official working hours for the Public Service have been amended so that officers work from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm, with the provision of a one hour lunch break from 12.00 noon to 1.00 pm.”
Other measures include:
–The creation of the One-Stop-Centre for investment at Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) in order to improve and ensure the ease of Doing Business in Malawi, the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) which is required to operate as one-stop-shop for investment will be strengthened by moving it to new premises where there would be adequate space to accommodate all relevant key agencies under one roof to ensure better coordination and efficiency.
The agencies’ officials to be accommodated under MITC are from:
i) Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security
ii) Malawi Revenue Authority
iii) Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
iv) Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
v) Department of Immigration
vii) Registrar of Companies.
–Streamlined Management of Statutory Corporations
In order to improve service delivery in Statutory Corporations, parastatal bodies will only report to their relevant Line Ministries and therefore the Department of Statutory Corporations will only perform oversight and administrative roles associated with Statutory Corporations. The Department of Statutory Corporations will subsequently be restructured so that it effectively fulfills its new role.
Decentralisation of Services in the Department of Immigration
In order to improve service delivery in the Department of Immigration, the following measures will be implemented:
I) decentralise printing of Passports to regional offices in Lilongwe and Mzuzu. Passports will therefore be printed in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu; and
ii) Arrangements will be made with the Malawi Postal Corporation to enable Post Offices in Malawi facilitate the following services to the general public:
a) Collection of Passport application forms;
b) Completion and payment for Passport application forms;
c) Delivery of completed passport forms to the Department of Immigration; and
d) Act as collection points of Passports issued by the Department of Immigration.
The Department of Immigration will remain responsible for all security matters associated with the processing of Passports.
The APM admin is keen to reform the public service, which in recent years has been noted for inefficiencies, corruption and shoddy standards. Previous administrations have been reluctant to reform the public sector–Maravipost
