The current efforts at Public Service Reform by the Democratic Progressive Party led government under the leadership of His Excellency Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika is yet another attempt by Malawians to improve the way the Public Service delivers efficient, effective and responsive public services.
We are all aware that this is not the first attempt by Malawians to transform the public service, this is the 93rd in the past 50 years I am informed. [Can somebody confirm this]? These past attempts left us still wanting, disappointing and hoping for a better future and a better Malawi, safe, secure, donor and investor friendly. The question becomes “what gives us confidence that things will work out this time around?” We can all agree that we are tired of mere rhetoric; we want a nation full of action or 24/7 full of activities. How do we ensure that this time around we deliver on our aspirations, plans and vision?
Firstly, let me start by commending and saluting the State President, Prof Arthur Peter Mutharika for his resolve to transform the Malawi Public Service and all of us citizenry being part of the reforms. This passion, commitment, determination and even excitement that characterized the launch of this initiative calls for a collective desire and determination by all Malawians to see its full implementation, realization and execution of this national dream. It is therefore commendable that the leader of opposition in Parliament, Rt Hon Dr. Lazarus Chakwera MP, the Speaker RT Hon Richard Nsowoya, the Chief Justice Hon Justice Msosa, and Archbishop Ziyaye were among invited guests to the inauguration function which they attended. So too was the former Vice President, Right Honourable Khumbo Kachali. This was very commendable which is why the State President had the courtesy to acknowledge their presence of such high profile people. We are beginning to see more positive signs of change in Malawi. It is only when we progress into the future that we will be assured of continuity because of the involvement of all political parties in this process.
Many people have commented on the development progress Ethiopia is undergoing. It took the initiative of the late Prime Minister Manes Zenawi to call for an all Ethiopian conference that deliberated, discussed, debated and agreed on the future development course of Ethiopia. The attendants to this conference were Ethiopians from all manner of political, social, cultural, economic and religious persuasions, from both within Ethiopia and the diaspora.
In this regard, Malawi has sufficient human resource capacity that if harnessed can rebuild this country. With concerted efforts, collective will and determination, a better future for Malawi is indeed attainable. I will cite some examples; South Africa and Mozambique are developing a multi-million dollar Trans frontier Tourism Project, headed by a Malawian. The recent public sector reforms in Lesotho were spearheaded by a Malawian consultant based in Area 47 Lilongwe. Namibia Public Reforms were championed by our own Malawian Consultant currently in Zomba. Both the Police and Prison Brass Bands of Botswana were founded with Malawian music directors at the helm. Late South African President Nelson Mandela, brought a strong desirable change in South Africa and how he selflessly spearheaded Truth and Reconciliation, which healed the battered wounds inflicted in the hearts of ordinary citizens and his Black Economic Empowerment in addition to turning Prisons into Correction Centers. Our situation, calls for same reflection and approach. It is pursuable because it is about time to look into the ways of handling the much hated cash gate, an amnesty can be considered but through serious consultations.
I was once privileged to attend the Malawi/Scottish Partnership that was graced by many eminent, highly qualified, professional and committed Malawians. I can cite the likes of Prof Thandeka Mkandawire, Dr. John Luwanda, Prof Matthews Chikaonda, Dr. Heatherwick Ntaba, Bishop Tengatenga of the Anglican Church, Ted Nandolo, Collins Magalasi, Bright Malopa, Dr. Goodall Gondwe amongst many.
First Minister of Scotland Sir Jack Mc Coney demonstrated his strongest desire to make our struggling country move out of its poverty traps and realize the dream of becoming a middle income or achieving economic independence and not dependency on donors through the partnership. The Late Bingu, Princess Annie, graced the occasion too… Great commitment and goodwill for Malawi!
In essence, these efforts of such people of goodwill clearly show that we have all it takes to attain economic stability. We need courage from our leadership to mobilize this resource and bring it to come to bear in the transformation of Malawi. We can begin to channel our energies to make this country stand on its own feet, proud to be counted amongst nations. This continued thinking based on ethnicity, regionalism, sexism, religion and other considerations other than being Malawian has let down the progress of the development of this country. Many Malawians have been deprived of the opportunity to contribute to the development of this country on the basis of political incorrectness. This has deprived this country of attaining its highest potential. All of us have to recognize that we are Malawians before anything else.
We either sink to our doom together or we soar to our highest levels of potential together. Together we can transform Malawi.
Secondly, I noted that in his capacity as chairperson of the Public Service Reforms Committee, the Vice President, Right Honorable Saulos Klaus Chilima defined the president, APM, as the sole sponsor of the reforms. May I take the liberty to say, APM cannot be the sole sponsor, he is the main sponsor. The Vice President still has a role a co-sponsor of the reforms. In this way it will present a unitary front in terms of leadership for the reforms. This will not give opportunities to those that are operating against the reforms to find safe hiding zones as the President and his vice will constantly and visibly be seen as a united force that seeks to transform the Malawi public service together. The Ministers that signed performance agreements together with the other Ministers that are yet to sign the agreements are the major change agents. Their Principal Secretaries are co-major change agents. Actually, Principal Secretaries should have stood behind their Ministers when they were signing the Performance Agreements. The Chief Secretary should have stood beside the president throughout the signing ceremony. This could have sent a clear message to all public servants that these reforms have full endorsements of the top public servants. This would also assure the public that there is going to be continuity of these reforms beyond the period that limits a political government. Continuity is one critical factor that has been absent in previous attempts to transform the public service. We have to get it right this time around. Sadly, until today, Ministers, PSs and or Directors should have had a meeting of endorsing and embracing the reforms possibly the next day or two, thereafter, submit each ones commitment to the Chief Secretary as the Custodian of this National Agenda.
The Directors in Ministries are Level II of change agents. This should cascade down to lower levels of the Public Service.
Involvement of top managers in the Public Service reforms at all levels is vital. Somebody said, “Tell them, they won’t. Ask them, they might. Involve them, they will”.
Let us not lose the momentum that the PSRC gathered when they consulted people from different spheres of life. This reform process should involve public servants. Mere directives will not result in any significant changes nor will mere appeals for support stimulate excitement.
It is by involving everybody in the implementation of these reforms that we will see any meaningful changes. We need to bring together all the necessary synergies to push the reform agenda.
There are only three things that you can foretell with certainty in life; deaths, taxes and change. Change is certain but interestingly, change is resisted. When paradigms shift, resistance manifests. By the way, a paradigm is a model, a frame of reference, a worldview that you hold on to. A paradigm helps you to filter and screen information etc. The declaration of the Public Service Reform is the declaration of the creation of a new paradigm. Public Servants are not able to see things the way they have always done. It’s like you have pulled off their frame of reference under their feet. Instinctively they fight or resist the change. Introduction of change is like the occurrence of death and the commencement of a funeral process. When you hear that your relation is dead, your initial reaction is denial. Many times at a funeral, the word that you commonly hear from women mourners is “no” – in other words denial. When this happens in a change process, you experience resistance to the change as people enter the denial stage. As days pass, you begin to reconcile yourself with the inevitability of the death. As time goes on, public servants will begin to reconcile themselves with the new reality. Then they will commence the search for a new direction. How do I continue to live without my beloved mom or dad? In the long-term comes commitment to the new paradigm. This process takes a long time. You need some people that will handle the grieving process; the chaplain is needed to begin engaging people in need during grieving time, time to adjust. There will be a lot of stress, frustrations, resignations, voluntary retirements, illnesses, anger etc.
This is so because when there is any paradigm shift people experience loss in several areas of their lives including; their feelings of security and competence, the sense of direction and belonging, people feel no longer in control or knowledgeable about what the future holds. Their security is threatened. Change brings about new work teams and groups, new clients and colleagues, familiar contacts are lost. People in the public service are asking questions “where are we going and why are we going there? What was wrong with our former direction?” Their familiar territory, their comfort zone does not provide the same feeling of comfort as before. The only option left for these people is to resist the change or to disrupt it. So this process has to be managed.
The other way of looking at it is that the launch of the Public Service Reform put in front of public servants a new paradigm, a desired future. This future is ahead of them, it is not very clear to them. Meanwhile, they are living in their comfort zone, the Public Service they always have known. Between these two points is a great sea of doubt. Transformation requires that they plunge into this sea of doubt and swim towards the desired future. The sea of doubt is a transitional state. Transitional states are characterized by many uncertainties, low stability, stress, increased conflict, undirected energy and control becomes an issue. In a change process you are therefore expected to defy the evidence presented by the old paradigm and plunge into the sea of doubt. It is an act of great faith. It is here that you begin to meet resistance.
For this reason, you have to utilize pain management. Introduce sufficient pain and discomfort in the paradigm you want to change so that you make it uncomfortable. It should become less painful to plunge into the sea of doubt than it is to remain in the old comfort zone.
Past public service reforms which also include the highly spirited efforts of first democratic President Dr. Bakili Muluzi’s Vision 2020 with the support from the then UNDP Country Resident Rep Terrence Jones have failed because the efforts wanted to change the public service whilst the public servants are not disturbed at all. This in itself is a prescription of failure because when people are comfortable, they have no reason to move on to a new paradigm. The government reward systems therefore become paramount this time around. The government should be seen to reward, whether through promotions, postings, salary accelerations, advanced training etc. for public servants based on their commitment and implementation of the reforms. No other criteria other than commitment to public reforms should be used in rewarding them. Public service reforms many times fail because the wrong people are being rewarded. That officer that is resisting change in a Ministry must never be given a chance. Scholarship must be given to a reformist and not that officer who is busy derailing reforms merely because he got a distinction at University. I have admired people like the Late Aleke Banda aka AKB, Mbuya Gwanda Chakuamba, etc. for earning distinctions at work due to their strong determination in achieving excellence. People should graduate with such distinction at the work place by embracing and implementing reforms.
The Father and founder of the Malawi nation, the Late Kamuzu Banda urged the entire nation to be proud in whatever vacation one ventures into, whether one is a cock, a gardener, be best cock, gardener etc. No one should be promoted because of the political persuasions or colors, faith group, ethnic group, religion, gender that they possess if they are resisting the reforms but be given the exit door!
A few years ago, the Western Australian Police was going through reforms. The Commissioner placed a notice inviting officers to a meeting to discuss these reforms. However, three of his deputies were excluded. He called them to his office and informed them that they could not be part of the meeting because they were not part of the future of Western Australian Police. The following day, they all submitted their retirement letters. Every change process is met with DINOSAURS; some are even DINOSAUR-RETREADS, officers who will never support any change process. These are the people who have succeeded in the past in blocking and sabotaging change. The mistake of the past was that they were left in the public service, they were even promoted meanwhile they were working hard to foil the attempts to reform. It is granted, some public officers are DINOSAUR-RETREADS, once identified, offer them a nice, clean retirement package and let them go. Hello! Government cannot continue to maintain excess baggage, more particularly baggage that will bog down the transformation train.
Thirdly, I want to make some suggestions for the future. The government should speed the development and creation of the Public Service Reform Commission as envisaged by the State President. A relevant policy should be put in place and appropriate legislation presented to Parliament. This will enable us all to embrace the reforms completely and ascertain continuity.
The PSRC should in its composition include former civil servants of high integrity and reputation. These should have retired at the level of Principal Secretary. This was a major skip in the current Public Service Reform Committee. It has brought unnecessary mistrust among civil servants of this process. Some confidence would have come if people like Sam Kakhobwe, Michael Kamphambe Nkhoma, Ron Mkomba and Mrs Andrina Mchiela, were members of the committee. This would be a confidence booster for public servants.
Once the Commission is setup, it should among other functions have a Research and Development (R&D) Unit that constantly researches on reforms. Organizational change is never a onetime thing. Organizations are supposed to be living organisms. Then you will not find yourself needing to implement radical changes. It should also have a Monitoring and Evaluations (M&E) Unit. Public servants are interesting animals, they do not do what you expect, and they do what you inspect. So too will the Commission need to setup a Marketing and Communications (M&C) Unit that will take a role that is more than the current PR offices in government. This unit should market the reforms to all concerned on a continuous basis like having daily articles in print and electronic media including community radios and television stations. In addition, a special song played by all local artists… Central Office of Information, should be addressing the nation each set week day briefing the nation on all activities on their menu to prepare and the nation or citizenry each ministry, department or every parastatal.
It is important to underline the fact that the Commission must be staffed by people that will form a powerful “think tank” for Malawi, full of creativity and innovative thinking. Talking about thinking, it is now time as Malawians that we develop inter-generational thinking and behavior. This is the only way towards sustainable development. We should be able to make choices and decisions that should not deprive our children of the same opportunities in the future. The Bible says “a wise man leaves a heritage for his grandchildren”. Let our plans reflect on future generations otherwise our grandchildren will desecrate our graves.
My final point to government is this; past plans were just as good as current plans. Implementation did not take place because resources, particularly financial resources were not made available for the changes. Mostly the reforms were donor dependent and therefore wrought with numerous donor conditionality and ever changing goal posts. Let us provide Malawian generated resources and finances to these reforms. The Ministry of Finance is a major culprit in this regard. You cannot fund the government the same way you have funded them in the past and expect a different result. Albert Einstein defined that as INSANITY. We should also agree here; most of the things cited in the Reforms document are nice things. However resources are limited to implement them all. Remember the Pareto Principle, 20/80. Identify 20% of the things that will give us 80% of the needed output/outcome and prioritize resource allocation to them. We should look for opportunities for quick wins and areas of high impact and implement those.
We should also not forget the INTEGRITY element to all this. It is high time the faith community in this country became PRO-ACTIVE in building a society of INTEGRITY. Pastoral letters that are written after the fact or national prayers that take place after a disaster have already struck and have not benefitted us much. It is time FAITH COMMUNITIES put their effort in building a principle and value based society, with people of integrity. It is time we became the land of the incorruptible.
I salute the State President and the people of Malawi, for publicly demonstrating a commitment and a will to change Malawi.
A better Malawi is indeed possible. God bless the land of Malawi; keep it a land of peace.
Billy Katimba Banda (Malawi Watch Executive Director)
