“Making Malawi Work: Transforming Malawi?s Public Service”
Malawi is at a crossroads and needs to transform and become a better country. Malawians are being called to action to make a choice to create a middle-income country as defined in the Malawi?s Vision 2020. It is in this spirit that President of the Republic of Malawi, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika appointed a Public Service Reform Commission chaired by the Vice President the Right Honourable Saulos K. Chilima. The other members of the commission are:
Professsor Peter Mwanza
Mr. Thomson F. Mpinganjira
Ms. Evelyn Mwapasa
Rev. Howard Matiya Nkhoma
Ms. Seodi V.R White
Mr. Bright S.M Mangulama
Mr. Krishna Savjani OBE, SC
The aim of this Public Service Reform Commission is to facilitate the creation of an effective and efficient Public Service that will spur economic growth through the nurturing of a market economy that is foreign direct investor friendly, as well as one that will facilitate long-term investments in health, education and other social programmes. The Public Service Reform Commission recognizes that a transformed public service spurs economic growth and creates more jobs and businesses for Malawians.
His Excellency the President is calling on Cabinet Ministers, the Public Service and all Malawians to support efforts to transform our public service and our country so that our vision 2020 of transforming Malawi to a middle-income country is met. Malawi?s Public Service is a servant of the people of Malawi.
RECOMMENDED SPECIFIC REFORM ISSUES: 1. MANAGEMENT PARALYSIS AND A STATE OF MENTAL SIEGE The Commission has noted with regret that:
1. There is a senior government management paralysis with regards to their supervisory roles;
2. Junior Staff continue to violate set rules and procedures, such as those relating to performance, time management, among others;
3. Principal Secretaries and other Senior Government officials continue to ignore such acts and/or omissions which have put government business in a state of paralysis.
4. The camaraderie, “buddy-buddy” relationships that exist between the Senior Government officials and their juniors, is responsible for a state of “mental siege? on the part of the senior government officials, and paralyses them into inaction.
5. Over and above this, the commission also notes that there is fear by Senior Government officials of their juniors as well as lack of respect by junior staff of their superiors.
Recommended Action: Senior Government officials should exercise their mandates and discipline insubordinate staff without fear or favour, in line with Public Service Regulations. This will be dealt with at the OPC level by the Chief Secretary to Government as the Head of The Civil Service to ensure full compliance and enforcement. 2. PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS The Commission has noted the public concerns on:–
a) Unregulated establishment of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
b) The perception that there is political interference in appointments and termination of employment of officers, especially in senior public office positions during regime change (No security of tenure of office)
c) The presence of outdated legislation that does not support transformative reform initiatives
d) The presence of many unfinished bills that are required to support reforms
e) Gaps and absence of legislation is hindering progress towards transformative reform initiatives
Recommended Action: The following constitutional and legal reforms:
a) The number of government Ministries should not exceed twenty (20).
b) The size of the cabinet should not exceed 25. This includes the President and the Vice President
c) That the following public positions should follow the Presidential Tenure of office:-
(i) The Attorney General
(ii) The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi
(iii) The Chief Secretary to Government
(iv) The Director General of Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
(v) The Inspector General of Police
(vi) The Commander of the Malawi Defence Force
(vii) The Secretary to the Treasury
(viii) The Budget Director
(ix) The Director General of the Anti- Corruption Bureau
(x) The Commissioner General of the Malawi Revenue Authority
d) The Auditor General should report to Parliament directly, and not through the Minister of Finance, to ensure independence of the office
e) Harmonise all the Service Commissions under the Malawi Public Service Commission
f) The National Vision be legislated to make it legally binding, and avoid the tendency by Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) deviating from the Country?s plans and strategies. This will ensure that the country?s transformative agenda stays of course and stands the test of time including any change of government
g) Commercial Parastatal organisations be given more autonomy to allow them to operate like companies and enter into joint ventures
where necessary. This should be legislated accordingly in order to avoid conflicting with the existing in order to enable reforms
h) The following should be given priority for enactment:
(i) Public Service Act (Amendment)
(ii) Public Service Remuneration Board Bill
(iii) Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill
(iv) Physical Planning Bill
(v) Local Government (Amendment) Bill
(vi) Payment Systems Bill
(vii) Electronic Transactions Bill
(viii) National Local Government Finance Committee Bill
(ix) University of Malawi Bill
(x) Land Bill
(xi) Insolvency Bill
(xii) Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill
(xiii) Communications Bill
(xiv) Lotteries and Gaming Bill
(xv) Political Parties Regulation Bill
(xvi) Public Procurement Act (Amendment)
3. EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING
The Commission notes:-
a) The laxity in the delivery of public services due to the absence of a robust result-oriented performance system linked to agreed individual work plans that are closely aligned to organisational performance targets derived from the National Development Plan
b) The disconnect between the roles of Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) and Performance Enforcement Department (PED), where DHRMD only focuses on individual performance and PED only focuses on organisational
performance.
Recommended Action:
a) The development of individual performance contracts between specific reporting levels, based on agreed targets as per Annual Action Plans;
b) Review and implement effective enforcement of Organisational Performance Assessment (OPA), including the development of organisational performance contracts between the President and a Cabinet Minister, and the Cabinet Minister and a Principal Secretary. This will then be cascaded to the entire ministry
c) The merging of the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) and Performance Enforcement Department (PED) in order to centralise and easily coordinate the assessment of individual officers as well as of Ministries, Departments and Agencies;
d) Public Sector Reforms Management Unit to take the role of monitoring and coordinating the tasks undertaken, in an effort to accelerate effective delivery of public services and ensure continuity
4. PROVISION OF UNINTERRUPTED SERVICES
The Commission notes:-
a) That most absenteeism is not sanctioned and is contrary to the provisions of the Malawi Public Service Regulations;
b) That such unregulated absenteeism is leading to serious disruption of services and has a negative impact on delivery of services in most MDAs.
Recommended Action:
a) In an event of death in MDAs, Controlling Officers should ensure that Government services are provided without disruption;
b) Any absence from the office should be authorised, in line with the provisions and requirements of Malawi Public Service Regulations;
c) All Controlling Officers be reminded that they have an obligation to enforce these regulations and ensure that Government services are always provided without disruption.
5. RIGHTSIZING THE CIVIL SERVICE
The Commission notes:-
a) That the number of Government Ministries was recently reduced to twenty (20)
b) The reduction has created redundancies of Principal Secretaries in a number of Ministries as their number exceeds the current number of Ministries, and the need for their services
c) There is need for an exercise to match the number of Principal Secretaries and existing Ministries, based on needs in the current number of Ministries
d) Further, part of the transformative agenda is to reduce public spending through staff rationalisation
e) The Commission also noted the high vacancy rate that exists in the Civil Service which is currently estimated at 40%
Recommended Action:
a) Reduction in the number of Principal Secretaries (PSs) by fifty-six (56) from the current ninety-six (96) to forty (40).
b) This should be done through a transparent and consultative process in order to ensure fairness and credibility. This exercise will be done by deleting irrelevant portifolios, deploying some PSs and exiting those that may not be required within the system. A decent one-off exit package will be offered
c) For the entire Civil Service, look at the total structure and delete all irrelevant positions in order to come up with a lean and vibrant organisation.
d) Put a freeze on external hire in order to allow for re-deployment in the first phase in order to ensure best fit within the system.
6. ENSURING FOCUSSED UTILISATION OF COUNTRY?S PRECIOUS FINANCIAL RESOURCES
The Commission notes that although the annual budget is supposed to be the main tool of implementing Malawi?s national development aspirations, one of the major impediments to success has been the absence of a disciplined effort to link the budget and actual funding to the projects in the national plans. Recommended Action: There should be utilisation of the budget as a critical tool to facilitate accelerated achievement of the goals in the Vision 2020 and MGDS II. To achieve that, there is need to:
a) Rationalise the development budget prioritising projects which take into account impact on needed accelerated development
b) Ensure disciplined implementation of the budget, ruthless adherence to the agreed plans, close monitoring and results of monitoring informing timely corrective actions, where necessary.
7. NATIONAL SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
The Commission notes:–
a. That in all the countries that are performing well, there are properly organised, focused and resourced Schools of Government;
b. The key role this institution can play to enhance capacity development of Malawi?s Public Service
c. The absence of such an institution in Malawi.
Recommended Action:
a) Establishment of Malawi School of Government. The Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) and Staff Development Institute (SDI) should form this entity. The Malawi School of Government will act as an explicit instrument to build strong public service and drive public service reforms. The objective is to provide continuous essential training necessary for effective and efficient public service delivery. The School should also have compasses in Zomba and Mzuzu
b) Government should make it mandatory that all MDAs spend at least 70% of the total training budget on training provided by the Malawi School of Government
c) Induction and orientation of the Malawi Public Service Regulations (MPSR) should be mandatory again as was the case before. This should also form the basis for promotions and reward
8. STRENGTHENING OF THE GREENBELT INITIATIVE
The Commission notes that the strengthening of the Greenbelt Initiative is one of the major keys to acceleration of Malawi?s development. Recommended Action:
The Greenbelt Initiative be removed from the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and, in its place, the establishment of the Greenbelt Authority, as a separate and independent entity. This will facilitate our long term aspirations of becoming a producing and exporting nation and aid our export earnings growth agenda.
9. PROVISION OF CONDUCIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
The Commission notes the importance of providing a conducive work environment to all public officers in order to motivate them, safe-guard their health and welfare and improve service delivery. Recommended Action:
a) Government should endeavour to relocate Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to more appropriate and convenient buildings, in order to foster conducive work environment;
b) That Government should construct at least two multi-storey office buildings at the Capital Hill. A PPP approach is an ideal option for this activity
10. RE-LAUNCH VISION 2020
The Commission:-
a) Acknowledges that it is mandatory to have a national development plan to guide development initiatives among all stakeholders;
b) Realises that national plans provide a development framework and serve as a single reference document for all stakeholders;
c) That Vision 2020 has been implemented using medium term strategies such as the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy (MPRS), Malawi Growth and Development Strategy I (MGDS
I) and currently the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MGDS II)
d) That in the early years of the Vision 2020, there was a lot of enthusiasm amongst all stakeholders in making sure that the country moves toward the realisation of the Vision;
e) That this enthusiasm was short lived, as evidenced by the lack of emphasis on the Vision;
