Don’t be intimidated by politicians, Chibingu tells Buildings Staff

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Paul Chibingu has urged Buildings Department staff not to be intimidated by politicians during their course of duty.

Speaking during the familiarization tour of the department on Tuesday, he said, politicians can affect the staff’s working environment by bringing in fear and confusion among workers.

“Fear can affect end results of any job in the department therefore I am appealing to you to refer to my office any politician coming to you,” he said

He said the department is the center-point of infrastructure development in the country.

“If we want to have a beautiful Malawi with transformed cities in terms of infrastructure, the department plays a crucial role,” he said.

Director of Buildings, Hastings Chiudzu, bemoaned lack of qualified expertise and training of staff in the department to perform perfect work.

“We have different areas in the department like surveys, landscape, engineering and mechanical and electrical which have very few qualified staff. We need more training to fill in the gaps,” he said.

He added that they lack proper funding to fully run the affairs of the department which has over 400 projects despite a slight increase in the 2015/16 budget.

Some of the projects the department has include Mombera University, Nkhata Bay Hospital, National Stadium, Commercial Court, rehabilitation of Grain silos, Cancer Centre and assisting in construction of the Malawi Communication and Regulatory Authority (MACRA) offices among others.