Capital Hill is source of change resistance, says Chakwera
President Lazarus Chakwera has said Capital Hill, the seat of government in Lilongwe, is the source of change resistance of doing things in government for the betterment of ordinary Malawians.
Chakwera pointed the finger at the government technocrats on Monday at Kamuzu Palace when ministries and government departments signed public reforms contracts.
He said the reforms are meant to help Malawians to get quality public services.
” For far too long, Capital Hill does not respect the will of people for change.
” Even if Malawians vote for change, no change comes, ” said Chakwera.
He said the state machinery had resisted change, adding that the resistance to reforming the public sector had deprived Malawians of quality education, health and job opportunities for the youth and women.
“The state machinery has been doing business as usual. There was clear disconnect.”
“We are here to close that gap,” said the Malawi leader, adding that November 23 was a “great day” to change the fortunes of the country.
The contracts, championed by Vice President Dr Saulos Chilima, who is also Minister responsible for Economic Planning and Public Sector Reforms, are meant to improve the quality of public services to Malawians.
Chakwera said fixing the reforms was the duty of all Malawians.
He said the documents signed were “not mere documents to gather dust,” but were terms of contracts that will be evaluated in the first quarter of 2021.
“Let’s go and make these reforms happen,” the President said.
All 23 ministries, 35 local councils, 10 constitutional bodies and 66 parastatals signed the documents through ministers.
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You are Government. They are part of your team.
Ubwino wake Capital Hill is full of Chewas, the most resistant people in Malawi.
Sorry but you are the head of capital hill now. Stop speaking like an outsider when you are the head of that house. Just admit your failures. Malawians won’t take pointing fingers from you anymore. For years you told us how you knew exactly what to do to change transform these institutions. Just do it or get booted out 2025 or before then.
Having leaders like Bakili Muluzi and Arthur Peter Muthalika was like having your daughter impregnated by a lunatic person. These two idiots ruined Malawi more especially Bakili Muluzi. They brought a lazy culture in the civil service and other sectors. They politicized the civil service bringing people like Helen Buluma, Felix Jumbe etc to work as CEOs. There is still a lot of stealing of public funds through allowances and fuel allocated to the PSs and Directors. They make ghost trips outside duty allowances. If you make them account for every kwacha given they will either stop or find another way to beat the system. 90% of the PSs are dpp sympathizers because dpp allowed them to steal with impunity.
Some of us knew from the word go that Tonse Alliance government would have an uphill task to reform Capital Hill because the past regime ensured that every nook and cranny is infested with Mulakho/Lhomwe to facilitate easy looting and plundering of public resources.
Another problem is the hiring of the seemingly obvious DPP sympathisers to head decision making positions in government. Would you expect these people to reign in likely derailers of Reforms?
U r the first person to resist to change Mr President. U have hired alot of personnel in ur government with questionable characters and expect these people to herald the much needed change. The country has produced so many educated personnel but haven’t been taken on board into the government machinery instead u opted for ur inlaws, cousins and tribesmen and expect to change the way we do things.
I bet u nothing will change. Mr president it’s high time u start the change urself before u ask the mainstream civil service to change. It begins with u Mr President.
Nepotism the President is in the forefront of Capital Hill. Useless recruitment of advisors the President is the champion. Unnecessary foreign trips the President is at the forefront of Capital Hill. Bloated entourage again the President is at the forefront of Capital Hill. Who is failing to reform here?
You are now in charge. You are now the president. Stop with the complaints and do the damn job
He is doing the job. He is in charge. And judge him after 2 years not four months. He is telling you that Capital Hill is resistant to change. And he will change it. The way we bring change is we remove those that are resistant to change and put in place those that will do what you want to be done.
So what will whining and complaining from the leader of the country help matters? Its like a father crying to your kids about how expensive electricity is. We need. Steady hands on the ship not a talk talk whining man baby
Yeee
I do agree with you. The only ploblem if that capital hill is full of Dpp cadets. We know them that they plan their double standards at night. They want the Tonse alliance to fail.
THIS IS THE PRESIDENT I HAVE LONGED TO HAVE. THERE MUST BE CONSEQUENCES WHEN THINGS DO NOT GO THE WAY WE EXPECTED. THIS IS LEADERSHIP, MALAWI HAS SUFFERED BECAUSE OF SELFISH LEADERS WHO CARED LITTLE ABOUT THE POOR. GO LAZ GO
Anybody who writes a whole story in capital letters is an idiot
kikikikikik very big idiot indeed
Zoona zinenezo hope capital is thru with headcount but who was doing the headcount? I know it’s haman resource dept but those who were doing the headcount themselves haven’t been audited akwezana ma grades okha okha wina I know from grade L to I within a year sanapitenso ku school. do you expect such pple to improve performance ? They are there waiting to be called and told what to do
If the civil service is that important to drive the much needed change, why are they treated as third grade in terms of salaries and other benefits? You want the best out of the poorly treated employees?
Civil servants don’t generate income. All they know is eat, eat and eat
They have a better pension scheme where by they continue with their salaries until the cease to exist.
Capital Hill on its own cannot be a source of change resistance. The problem lies in the hands of the man at the helm, who apparently is diverting blame instead of owning it. There is a saying, “A bad carpenter will always blame his tools”. For starters, the offices were given to novices who are trying to get to grips in the manner things are supposed to be run whilst in office. If you use a goat to plough then expect no progress, yet cows to do that job are just plentiful but not being used because of wrong choice of tools. Appeasement policies you followed is what will bring you down onto your knees. If you want to please everyone, you will end up pleasing nobody. Taking on board the 9 parties from an election alliance is a massive call, hence the hiccups. That coupled with over-ambitious trends as depicted by the leadership culminates the muddled landscape. Making people sign treaties/concessions will mean nothing at the end of the day. Wise and pragmatic leadership is what is amiss here. There are just too many qualified people in the country who walked through corridors of higher learning institutions both in the country and abroad. The only problem they carry around with them is because they don’t come from the Central Region of Malawi. In that case then forget reaching a turning point for those nephews, nieces, inlaws, school/college-mates etc all they will do is to take you down as they too fall. Theories in most undertakings do not work. As a leader you need to sacrifice by getting dirty on the job and not necessarily cleaning exercises as seen lately but running and maintaining good workmanship in government departments, appointing staff on merit, desisting from vendetta tendencies, lead a collective nation by moving abreast with all tribes regardless of areas of origin. As it were, those who could help have their arms folded because they haven’t been included in the nation building process. At the end of term of office it will be Chakwera and Chilima who will be assessed.
Well put. I fear this government doesn’t want to take any responsibility and are ready at any time to shift blame for failures to others. Either DPP operatives in govt, now capital hill technocrats. This tendency will get us to nowhere. Yes they are politicians but excessive shifting of blame makes them very irresponsible and not ready for the challenge to run this country. Man up you Tonse guys and be responsible please.
Long rumbling comment back empty.
Look in mirror Mr.President! You are the biggest enabler of the resistance to change at Capital Hill.
You started it all by bringing back from retirement Zangazanga Chikhosi to work as the Chief Executive Officer of your government. This man was responsible for a lot of ills at whichever ministry or department he headed. Recently he is embroiled in shady hiring of the fired Director of HR at TC. Then there is his deputy Janet Banda. She is so selfish that she managed to obtain illegal perks for herself during Joyce Banda’s rule.
You said to yourself let me do more damage and hired Gideon Kalumbu, a well known shady character as the head of finance for state residences.
Then you said I will be failing if I do not rope in Prince Kapondamgaga. A man who literally stole millions from peasant farmers when he was working at the Farmers Union of Malawi.
No Dr Chakwera. The problem is you.
Songs of Government!
how does he expect anything to change with people like Chikhosi who were hired from retirement after destroying the civil service. They were hired to finish from where they stopped.
Automate it ! If your job is to just stamp a receipt and collect money – you’re gone! You just issue out Purchase orders ? Get out! Vendors should not collect checks anymore – the system should wire it into accounts! This should clear out enough offices for rent. You should have to be a subject matter specialist to have an office in the government- and be paid as one. Do you know how high the bar is raised In countries that want to develop to be a government employee? High !
You go for 4 interviews for a job in the civil service in the UK.
Civil service is separate from public service.