Written By: Lloyd M’bwana
The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation George Chaponda has lauded the ongoing public reforms as over MK3 billion will be saved in the coming years as downsizing and rationalizing personnel both for diplomatic missions and local staff in the Ministry take effect.
This is the first time foreign affairs ministry has come openly on the public reforms progress as some quarters have been questioning the Ministers frequent travels which the general public perceives as conduct contrary to the said austerity measures.
Addressing the news conference on Thursday, March 24, in the capital Lilongwe , George Chaponda disclosed that public reforms were making wonders for ministry as MK3 billion and MK2.2 billion have been saved in personal emoluments , and rentals for houses of diplomats and schools for children of diplomats respectively in 2015/2016
financial year.
Dr. Chaponda says government is poised to make savings of MK7.3 billion over the two fiscal years owing to the way the ministry was managing missions abroad.
“The ultimate aim of these reforms is to make Malawi missions more cost effective, lean and efficient. Through this process, government has been able to reduce the number of diplomats in our embassies from the established positions of 234 to 152 and for local staff from 217 to 184 saving MK3.1 billion in personal emoluments and MK2.2 billion in rentals and school fees for diplomats’ houses and children respectively.
“Government has rolled out the performance management system to all diplomats and local staff in foreign missions and the ministry headquarters who are expected to show performance through appraisal system that those below lowly are warned improve their working spirit. And the standard tenure of three years for each diplomat has been set aside.
“Not only has government put performance appraisal but also requested each foreign mission and embassy to develop a strategic plan outlining the strategic outcomes, objective and outputs upon which performance of each mission and embassy will be assessed”, announces Dr. Chaponda.
Chaponda further discloses that the ministry has requested all the embassies and foreign missions to develop service charter for all the services they lender to their clients observing that complaints against foreign missions and embassies have been rampant.
“We therefore , wish to hold all foreign missions and embassies accountable to the people we serve so that when we commit that we can renew a passport or visa within a specified timeframe. The ministry also intends to review the country’s foreign policy which will be done every five years in order to take into account the changing geopolitical environment”, says Chaponda.
