Vice-President Michael Usi has warned civil servants against reporting late for duties, saying the government will not hesitate to dismiss such employees.
Speaking in an interview after making a surprise visit at Chikwawa District Council offices and Chikwawa District Hospital on Wednesday, he said most civil servants report for duties as they wish, defying the official Malawi Government working hours from 7.30am to 4.30pm.
Usi said some civil servants’ tendency of reporting for duties late is one of the factors hindering the country’s development.
He said: “So, this time around, we will go after them [civil servants] and make sure those that deserve to be booted out; they have to be booted out. We need to serve Malawians better.”
During his visit, Usi expressed satisfaction that Chikwawa district commissioner Nardin Kamba and director of health and social services Grace Momba were executing their duties as they were in office by 7.30am.
In his remarks, Kamba decried low funding, saying it was compromising public service delivery in the district.
He said: “But as a district, we are trying our best to maximise our local revenue generation. We are working with other partners to fill in the gaps that we have in delivery of public service.
“One of the examples is we wrote a proposal to EU [European Union] and they are about to grant us 1 million euro [about K1.3 billion] to use for environmental management.”
At Chikwawa District Hospital, the Vice-President bumped into a nurse who reported for work at 8am.
He quizzed her why she was late and she said she had a problem with her child.
Commenting on the Vice- President’s move, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences development scholar Andrew Kaponya and Catholic University of Malawi development studies senior lecturer Justine Mangulama separately said the surprise visit was aligned with Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy which calls for mindset change in pursuit of the aspiration to transform the economy to middle income status.
But Kaponya said while presence and punctuality is important, the government should ensure that its staff are given necessary resources to execute their tasks.
Mangulama, on the other hand, urged Usi and senior government officials to extend the surprise visits to other government ministries, departments and agencies to appreciate the actual situation on the ground.
He said: “If civil servants know that they can be visited anytime, they will be vigilant and we can improve the service delivery.
“But this should also be accompanied by better working conditions.
This can help to boost the morale of the civil servants.”
President Lazarus Chakwera, the late Saulos Chilima and former president Bakili Muluzi previously conducted similar surprise visits to State agencies.
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