Chilima throws out officials for late coming at reforms meeting

July 7, 2020 Watipaso Mzungu -Nyasa Times 118 Comments

Some heads of parastatals and senior officials who reported late for the Public Sector Reforms meeting, which State Vice President Saulos Chilima is overseeing in his capacity as  Minister for Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms, were locked out  at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe on Tuesday.

Vice-president Chilima engages parastatals, private sector on reforms
John Chome and others at the meeting

Officials at the meeting told Nyasa Times that Chilima arrived at BICC at exactly 08:50am for the meeting scheduled to start at 9am.

Only a handful of heads of parastatals had arrived at the place when the Vice President was getting to the place.

“The officials  that came after 9am have been sent back while others were seen loitering outside the room waiting for the meeting to finish,” said the source.

Chilima — a technocrat  who before joining frontline politics in 2014 worked as the first Malawian managing director for multinational Airtel Malawi— is well-known for time management.

The functional vice-president Chilima is holding  interface meetings with PSs of parastatal organizations, the private sector and local councils on the implementation of the reforms agenda in the new administration of President Lazarus Chakwera.

On Tuesday,  the Vice President engaged  Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Directors of Finance for parastatal organisations based in the central region as well as CEO for the Lilongwe City Council John Chome.

Spokesperson in Office of the Vice-President, Pilirani Phiri, states that the engagements will be held across all three regions in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

“The meetings will review and agree on new areas of reforms and take stock of the impact of service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness that the reforms have had so far. These include organisation health checks such as profitability or loss,” said Phiri in a statement.

On Thursday, the Veep is expected to meet CEOs for Blantyre and Zomba city councils at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre while on Friday, he is scheduled to meet CEOs from the private sector.

The country’s second-in-command will then meet directors of finance from the Northern Region, including Mzuzu City Council CEO, on Monday.

Chilima is serving a second term as Vice-President, having been in the same position under the erstwhile governing Democratic Progressive Party leader Peter Mutharika. Before falling out with Mutharika, the Vice-President was also in charge of the Public Sector Reforms Programme during which he introduced reforms that were lauded by critics for being effective.

Later, Mutharika directed that the reforms be handled by Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) which stalled under the watch of garrulous Seodi White.

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118 replies on “Chilima throws out officials for late coming at reforms meeting”

  1. EXEGGERATED!
    The room was full to capacity by the time the VP came in! I was there. I am not sure WHO was “thrown out” for coming ‘late.’
    It’s good that the VP talked about the virtue of punctuality, but reporters must not cook up stories. Ine hape!

  2. Foolish mcp supporters, who told you that punctuality translates directly into productivity? At my work place someone always reports early but he is the most unproductive person pamene ife ma late reporters we are very productive. Za ZII BABY Chililma waonjeza, paja amatinso kulibe COVID-19

  3. Komatu amalawi timamva ndi chikwapu,,nde apapa mwangotidzizimutsa bwana!.. I remember my late grandpa.. u come late after a call up..amakubweza, transport ndukulandanso

  4. That was agood move, Time management is one of the best attributes of a good leader.
    Meeting imayamba 9am, Anthuwa akudziwa bwino za congested roads in Lilongwe.
    Chinali chanzeru kunyamuka kwawo Earlier ncholinga choti akafike ontime.
    Kuwabwenza ku meeting ziwathandiza kudzasunga nthawi next time.

  5. 8:50am meeting ya 9:00am. Onse ndiochedwa spa anakabwera 8:30am if he was tranna to lead by Example komanso iwe reporter learn kulemba chinthu in detail like planned vs actual attendance. Cuz atha kukhala ochedwao analipo 10 out of 50 koma apa it sounding like vice versa.

  6. Gee, treating CEOs like kids! Koma ziliko. Even Trump has arrived late to several international meetings. When this man’s downfall arrives, it shall be very amusing to watch! Nothing lasts forever.

    1. A CEO who can not manage time can not manage an Institution and deserve to be treated like a kindergatten kid.

  7. IF WE ARE INDEED TO DEMONSTRATE TO WORK HARD X 5! AS DEMANDED BY THE PRESIDENT IN HIS INAUGRATION SPEECH, ALL CEOS THAT CAME LATE MUST BE FIRED,THESE MIGHT AMONGST THE SO CALLED DPP EXECUTIVE CADETS.THEIR ACTIONS HAVE STARTED TO SHOW THAT THEY WANT TO START THROWING SPANNERS INTO THE PRESIDENT CHAKWERA ADMINISTRATION’S WORK AS THEY DID WITH AMAYI JOYCE BANDA BETWEEN 2012-2014.FIRE THESE DPP EXECUTIVE CADETS AS THERE ARE A LOT OF PATRIOTIC MALAWIANS WITH BETTER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE WHO WERE DENIED OPPORTUNITIES BECAUSE OF THE LOMWELIZATION PRACTICES BY THE LLOYD MUHARA ADMINISTRATION.WAS KAISI SADALA OF TTC ONE OF THEM?

    1. Ankolo tamalembani ngati ku sukulu munapita chonde, do you just fire people with no warning or without proper procedures? Cadet or no cadet we ought follow proper procedures si kumunda uku yayi

  8. It has always been the case with Malawian senior management, be it in government, parastatal or private entities to report for duties late small wonder we are 56 years behind in development. SMH! Time to wake up and begin to work hard Malawians!

  11. The VP forgets that morning are pick hours and Lilongwe is congested. He forget that he uses the police to clear the way for him. Thirdly, he is not a great teacher. He should have reign to accommodate, i don’t think it was there wish to reach the place late. This behaviour will not last so long. He should learn to forgive,

    1. They should have left home a little earlier. Your thinking is what takes us back. There should always be accountability

    2. Amwene mkunama. Ngakhale kusukulu in whatever condition you need to focus and adjust yourself. Ngati ukuziwa kuti mtunda woyenda 2 hours pa nomal hours ungakutengele 5hours pa peak hours lawila kwambiri. Ngati pa nomal hours umanyamuka 7:00am why cant you de adjust it to 5:00am? Bwana mkunama. The problem is that, most of them are older than him akumdelela koma akuyiwala kuti ndi bwana wawo. ‘Cant agree with you. Wake up my friend. Ife timagwira nchinto, sungamuuze bwana kuti ndachedwa chifukwa kuli mvula. Thats a lame excuse. So what ever made those guys to arrive late at the meeting, is not worthy for their defence. I knw there are some pipo who use ignorance to defend themselves. Yitakulipa songo

    3. Achimwene! Failing to make it at 9:00 because of traffic? Are you for real?
      I wish the reporter mentioned some of these foolish brides maids.

    4. If you knew that in the morning there is traffic you should have made provision to start off in good time. When you are flying out of Malawi you always start in good time but when you go to work you don’t care.

    6. traffic in Lilongwe is moderate now because most workers are working from home. The roads are deserted in the mornings

    7. Well said friend. Ng’oma yolilitsa sichedwa kusweka/kung’ambika tiyeni tizing’oyangana

    8. Namulondola Njira, what would you do if you were to catch a flight at 09:00? Would you miss your flight because mornings are pick hours?
      “Time is money”

    9. mabwana ambili anazolowera late arrivals ku ofesi.FACT.
      PITALA CIMUUUZILE ZA MISEU MWINA IYE AMAENDA NDI SIREN NTHAWI YA MMA 5 KLOKO. SZISHUPI GREEDY OLD TOOTHLESS MAN

  13. Garrulous Seodi White.. Eish Reporter has hit the nail on the head, I hope you are as garrulous in bed also..

  14. At the inauguration time I heard the president calling ‘work hard’ 5 times. How and where do you expect to work hard if you arrive late? How do you expect to set good example to your subordinates if you don’t keep time? How do we expect to develop if we don’t mind time? If you are old and can’t deliver go for retirement. Bravo Mr VP It’s a good start this is new Malawi.

    1. You can sometimeswork hard and deliver nothing.I would for opt people to rather work smarter because usually those who do so are achievers. Many companies in busy cities don’t worry about time, they are interested in the numbers.

      1. Can you give an example of a company which does not care about time and the company is doing fine?

        1. Many of them: BHP Billiton, GEC, Microsoft just to name a few. Whilst fixed times are there, people can report 3 hours before time and knock off proportionately. Some knock off very late and can work from home. High flexibility no problem as long as your weekly, monthly, quarterly indicators are very positive. Your performance speaks for you; smart!

  15. chilango chili pansi pompano sure. Pubkic sector reform anamulanda chilima kumpasa ex girlfriend wa pitala, Seodi White. Seodi lero ndi izi

  16. This is a welcome development. Please shakeup the civil service and the government owned institutions. I have worked for international NGOs here in Malawi and outside, l have learnt how important time keeping is, nobody comes late for meetings. However, l also noted how Malawian senior civil servants and politicians embarrassingly came late for meetings hosted by international organisations meant for the development of Malawi.

  17. Drama KING starting his new episode of trying to take the limelight. A waste of time focusing on parastatals. The major problem is civil service.

    1. Your head must be full of water! how can you say scrutiny of parastatals is waste of time when most of these parastatals such as ESCOM, City Councils, Water Boards are sick, posting losses, delivering poor services, failing even to remit to Pension funds the deducted pensions from employees and failing even to retired employee their retirement benefits ?

  19. This is a load of bullshit. First the meeting of this kind should not have happened at all in the current corona virus pandemic. To be seen to be taking preventive measures. The VP should have called for a virtual meeting with these CEOs. This alone should have demonstrated to him the level of preparedness to work remotely in these circumstances by these parastatals. Second I believe there is an office which is already existing and incharge of these reforms. SKC should have engaged this office for an update as he was on DPP and self imposed exile from cabinet undertakings. This should have given him a heads up to the current situation and also he must engage the National Planning Commission to get an update before he can leap and start confusing everyone. These are my thoughts for starters. Regarding locking the doors after he has arrived is totally unacceptable. A CEO is never late but is delayed so he must let them in and ask them to apologize for being delayed in front of everyone, next time attendance will be punctual.

    1. Zinthu zasintha. You look like some disgruntled civil servant. Coach wanyuwani sangamadalire ma tactic a coach ochotsedwa. Update siyofuna kufunsa, Ngati Muli anzeru mukanamupatsa report la izo mwakhala mukuchita.

    3. How do you know he’s not yet engaged the relevant offices. Becareful you may be behind yourself

  20. bravo John Chome our CEO inu bwana munakakhala wansembe bas unsembe unakakukhalani kwambiri mumandisangalatsa kwambiri munabadwanso bwino kwambir.

  21. The official office hours in the public service starts from 7.30 am. The interface meeting was to start at 9.00 am and some officials had the audacity to arrive late at a meeting with the VP? Really? These people are not serious.

    I wonder what time they report for duties in their respective offices. Perhaps they report at 4.30 pm just to knock off at 5.00 pm.

  22. And such incompetence is heading our organisations?

    Nonsense.

    Attitudes have to change, else heads must roll. As we have seen from the recent process, we have very very competent ladies and gentlemen when can deliver professionally. Do not waste the nation’s time. We are developing the nation with or without these inept senior officers.

    They do not fit into to the new work ethos.

  23. What arrogance on the part of the cadet officials! Did they think they were going to a DPP meeting?

    Mind-set change starts with a little, seemingly simple, thing like time management.

    I was once turned away from a tutorial class at university in the UK for being 2 minutes late; and the topic in this Business Admin tutorial was… You guessed it: time management.

  24. ‘Only a handful of CEOs had arrived by the time the vice president arrived at 0950h’ Should the VP have been waiting for them? Clearly this is unacceptable insubordination! There is no excuse for coming late to the vice president’s meeting and excuses about traffic congestion should not be entertained and should have been planned for. It is good that the VP did not allow these late comers in and maybe it is also time they considered resigning or retiring as they have failed the first test. I believe a register was taken and the VP has been given a record of both early and late comers. If CEOs report late for the VP’s meeting what time do they report for work at their work place? Disgusting CEOs!!!

  25. A Malawi timalawira tsiku loyamba nchito, ndiye ngakhale kukhale mvula from 3am to 9am,timakafika 6.30am ,nchito yoyamba 7.30am ,osanyowa,koma ,two months later kuyamba 8.30am amati.alawira. Time is money once you lose time you can’t recover it. Time for business as usual is over,Road traffic,lands,banks,hospitals wake up and work.you are paid to work. CCAP church,wake up.

  26. Kodi malamulo adzalola kuti SKC adzakhalenso vice president kachitatu mu 2025? Pakufunika kuti ntchito yabwinoyi adzapitilize mpaka 2030

  27. on issue of time, bravo on throwing out late comers. Malawians do not take meetings seriously. How can you come to a meeting called by Vice President late? How can such organisations being led by such people be successful?

  28. Apompo ye! Deadwood has already started firing itself ( or is it setting itself on fire? ).

    Right Honourable Vice-president, those fat cats who came in late have already displayed their sloppy, inefficient and ineffective performances in their respective organisations. FIRE THEM FORTHWITH without even hearing their side of the story. Their side of the story is quite eloquent enough as it were.

  29. How can they be late. Insubordination of the highest form. They must be dismissed. They are not ready to develop our country and we cannot afford to wait for such dead wood. DISMISS THEM forthwith.

  30. Eya waziyamba bwino.
    Ku Capital Hill,akungolandila ndalama zamisonkho yathu
    zaulele
    Kukayamba nchito mochedwa mupeza akuweluka mofulumila
    Nanji FRYDE

  31. Time is valuable to some and less valuable to others depending on what you do for a living. But CEO’s should be among those that value time. At least CEO’s should know better than to make a Vice President (whose time is very valuable) wait for them. And if these CEO’s do not get the message then they should look for jobs with less responsibility.

  32. With traffic jams he was able to make it because his way was cleared by police sirens. like me I left home 5 am but could still not make it,

    2. The excuse of traffic jams is very flimsy. The CEOs should have made plans not to arrive late – its like arriving late for job interviews!! By the way, the VP does not use police sirens to clear his way. No excuses, remember to plan and KEEP TIME!

  33. Then where will he get the information he wants. He will have to arrange for another meeting. Wasting tax payers’ money. Chilima always becomes too excited with small things. Those who watched the function yesterday would agree with me that he was dancing to the pelete.

    2. mukunamatu munasaininila kugwila ncito.kuzolowera kubwera 10 kloko kuzangouza ma secreatary kuti mwacokapo kae mukukakumana ku njomba yobela ndlama .manyumba .malo.
      munya muona.
      gog wa dpp akangoti udyeni udyeni mishyewo yabwino ngati ya ku german- NONSENSE.
      MOSE TINAYAMBILA NKHANI YA MISEU mpaka mwatulukilamo. mukapanga zinthu za China basi zosalimba. kumangofukula ngati manda a nsenye bwa??

    3. Nde kuganiza kopusako kumeneko. Zimenezo ndizomwe takuchotserani mmboma,kulephera kupanga fulfill ma promise. Munthu wakuwuzani kiri meeting ndi 9am nd you are comin late,mumafuna akudikileni?

    4. information ya boma is not private. He can find it. Unali mwai chabe kuti akaziteteze okha zolakwa zao. Ena amachedwa kusamba mankhwala. Awona mmene apangire

  35. Mbuzi imeneyi…You way is cleared for you bamboon.We have to endure traffic jam into the.city after all you need to give an allowance for such mishaps…

    By the way do you remember how you kicked out a car hire firm out of airtel to accommodate Ralph Kasambara car firm?

    3. Ha ha ha inu! No excuse for mediocrity.komanso it seems you don’t have all the facts but want to seem like you know nkhani.

    1. That would be the best for our country and future generations!..Kupemphera Mulungu nasi zitachita motero..

  38. Macadeti a DPPwo ukhonza kuwapanga chilichonse. Tiona a Yufi akayamba kutenga maudindo uzapangenso zakozo. kuDPPnso 2014 unayamba choncho kuwaonerera anthu oikidwa ndi Joyce Banda. Macadeti atalowa bwanji? Munthu amachedwa pazifukwa zosiyana siyana, this is Africa. You can’t abandon maliro aneba or wachibale bcoz a mere veep is conducting unscheduled meeting. If it was an appointment nzomveka.

    1. Ngati akuifuna ntchito sadzachedwanso…..CEO wopanda time planning ali ngati this so called Muthalirenji wosakasaka kukakhala ku maliro cholinga asagwire ntchito.Of couse this is Africa zugwirizana ndi chani posasunga nthawi?

  45. Never apply brakes to the attitude that will certainly drain the swamp. There is a lot of debris left by the swindlers they weren’t accountable to anyone they were bosses unto themselves.
    Good side for the cartoons that they chose lateness as they have not anything in terms of delivery efficiency.
    We all must respond to the Tonse Philosophy of collective responsibility.
    Time is over for the snoring fat cats in the DPP pen. They are yet to bleed. The late Edward Chitsulu would’ve said they gonna eat stones the best niche for these brigands is hotel mikuyu

  46. Those who were locked out for being late should either resign or be sacked with immediate effect. These are characters that are pulling Malawi down. Their intentions are not to promote and advance their respective organisations but milking them. Shame on them, leave and serve your political masters from somewhere else!!!!

  47. Am really happy the Vice President is putting his foot down. We are so used to mediocrity. The president said last night we must work hard and do away with laziness

    1. Yeah, for the ones not working together. Soon allowances will be a thing of the past too.

  49. Skc mavuvu too much so what have you achieved by limiting the number of contributions, just because one is early doesn’t mean they are more prepared. Mbuzi zambiri zimalawilila ku office to do nothing. You should have enquired why they were late and probably put emphasis on the timetable. Excluding them from deliberations was not good idea at all.

    The journalist, learn to differentiate between airtel Malawi and airtel Africa. Airtel Malawi is not a multinational because it does not operate outside Malawi nation. Airtel Africa is the one that is a multinational.

    2. It doesn’t matter, if the meeting was scheduled @ 9:00 they were suppose to be there before 9:00. Let us stop babysitting old people. They should be different between old potato and new potato.

    3. A Malawi tinazolowera kusalemekeza nthawi. Tili ndi nthawi yathu yachi Malawi. If we need to develop, lets start respecting others and start keeping time. It’s not business as usual in this government. We need to reform our brains and mindset too.

    4. It’s very unfortunate because your are used to business as usual… change has come. SKC more fire

    5. inu nde mbuli yotherathu. moti ku school simunaphuzire about punctuality? komaso zoti airtel is multinational brand simumazimvesesa pati? zoti airtel yaku kenya, india, nigeria ndi malawi komaso maiko wena onse ndi company imodzi. monga mtn or multichoice.

      kuchita kulema muchizungu anthu akunja akuziweni umbuli wanu.

    7. I somewhat agree with you, an allowance should have been given, say 5minutes or so, travelling is unpredictable, you can’t lock out people at the exact time… next time give an allowance.

      writter, you can’t spare time asking every one the whys, it doesn’t happen that way, people can give excuses and progress can never be measured… it’s sometimes true most early comers are not the ones with good ideas

    8. mukakolope nyanja chief justice ndani kaya uko.
      They were late– period.
      Business is not usual this time

    9. Hahahaha! I think you are a government employee bwana. You don’t know anything about time keeping; munya muwona.

    11. So you what them to continue as if they are still under DPP? Akulu some of us are happy with his actions so far.These people are paid by us the Tax payers and we need value for money.Ngati zikuwakwana asiye ntchito ena alowepo azifulumila kuma meetings.The days of stupidty atha.We are moving forward with or without you and them.Malawi for all,Viva Tonse Alliance!!! Viva MCP!!! Viva UTM and all Tonse Partners and Viva Malawi

    13. To Justice For Sale: I think you’re a very bitter man because what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. The Vice President kept his time and these morons of yours don’t keep time, meaning the VP must wait for their asses. Fuck You Asshole!

      1. Foul language may be OK within your clique but please respect others here. Thank you.

    15. I guess you are One of those Civil Servants with a laizzeh faire attitude ….You Open Your Offices when you want To….And knockoff at anytime …Siyani Ntchito Go to the Private Sector Tione ngati muzikapanga Zimenezo or Muzikapanga Zanu ….Mumatidikiriritsa mma office mwanumo…..After all this was not an Emergency meeting or Visit…Everyone was informed in Advance …..

    17. Ife tufuna wa mavuvuyo .. time for anthu a ma easy(a ulesi) ngati iweyo inatha this is a new Malawi

    18. I totally disagree with you! Time management is paramount to each and every chief or head of an institution .

    20. You definitely belong to the past. If you want to know the effective impact of this action, watch if anyone will ever be late in the next scheduled sessions

    21. Justice for sale you are very ignorant. You miss the point! Be on time or it’s time for you to go. These CEOs and Directors are working for Malawi and not their own businesses. They are always late! Long lunches and never doing their job.

      I, for one, would not hire you, justice for sale. You dont get it and therefore it would be back to the drawing board for you! Typical ignorance

    22. Foseki
      When you are getting a flight you make sure you arrive in time or you will miss the flight.These so called Munthu were not serious enough about their responsibilities.
      Just imagine if everyone will be coming the way he or she wants and Malawians expect the government to deliver their expectations.

      Poti mbuzi zina have not worked outside side Malawi.You are paid to work osati kugona

    23. There’s nothing wrong with setting precedence. Everyone now knows they have to be at any meeting on time. It’s rude to be late for a meeting. It’s a sublime message for negligence and ‘I don’t care’ mentality.

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