Chilima demands disciplinary action on errant parastatal organizations

Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima, who is also Minister for Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, has directed the Controller of Statutory Corporations to take a disciplinary action against parastatal organizations, which failed to submit on time Reforms Status Reports requested on 7 July, 2020.

Chilima had requested that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Directors of Finance for parastatal organizations to submit their reports by 17 July 2020.

The request was made during his interface meetings with the CEOs and Directors of Finance of parastatal organizations based in the Central Region on 7 July, 2020 in Lilongwe and those in the Southern Region on 9th  July, 2020 in Blantyre.

However, it has emerged that some of the parastatals did not meet the deadline, prompting Chilima to call for a disciplinary action against them.

But according to a statement signed by spokesperson in the Office of the Vice-President Pilirani Phiri made available to Nyasa Times on Tuesday , out of 66 parastatals that were expected to submit the reports, only 56 met the deadline with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development (SMEDI) being the first to submit on 14th July, 2020.

“Nine parastatals missed the deadline with some of them submitting as late as yesterday, Monday 20th July, 2020. At the time of issuing this statement, the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) had not yet submitted. To this effect, the Vice President has expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of those that missed the deadline,” part of the statement reads.

“Dr. Chilima has since directed the Controller of Statutory Corporations to take disciplinary action on the CEOs of these 10 parastatals specifically MIM which is yet to submit,” the statement concludes.

The parastatals that made late submissions include Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) and Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha).

Others are Malawi Gaming Board, Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi (NMCM), Malawi Accountants Board (MAB), Malawi National Commission on Unesco and Pesticides Control Board.

Public Sector Reforms spokesperson McCarthy Mwalwimba, said the disciplinary process will involve the parastatal CEOs as they are the leaders.

He said: “The CEOs will be disciplined because an institution is run by a leader so any action is based on the leadership. So, it is all about a question of dialogue.”

President Lazarus Chakwera dissolved the boards of many parastatals in a ramp of reforms that he has rolled out since assuming power, tasking Chilima with the role of public service reforms as many Malawians have lost trust in state institutions and see them as inefficient and corrupt.