DMRMD quashes nepotism claims in civil service recruitment: Parliamentary committee queries job statistics

A powerful Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee on Tuesday summoned the secretary for Human Resource for an inquiry on allegations that there is nepotism in government job offers.

The inquiry comes high on the heels of allegations that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) favours people from the Lhomwe-belt and from the southern region who are offered top jobs in the government.

But the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) has issued a report on the distribution of jobs in civil service, quashing the claims of nepotism in appointments.

In the report presented to the committee, Hillary Chimota the Principal Secretary for DMRMD said the recorded data does not demonstrate nepotism or bias in the civil service recruitment.

“We have fair distribution in the country, there is no nepotism and people are talking about nepotism without evidence,” said Chimota,

Nonetheless, chairperson Collins Kajawa has cast doubts on the credibility of the report and said his committee expect an elaborate data from the department in another meeting.

“We want DHRMD to have a very good recruitment strategy that takes into account equity and abilities of people and number of students graduating from tertiary institutions every year. It is a country that belongs to all of us,” said Kajawa, a member of Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

Based on the report, the Northern Region with a population of 2.2 million or 13 percent of the country’s population has 38 350 civil servants which represents 1.7 percent of the region’s population.

The north holds 21.9 percent of the positions in Grade P4 and above.

Second in terms of more jobs in the civil service is the Southern Region, with a population of 4.6 million or 26.6 percent of the national population. Its work force of 48 867 account for one percent of the region’s population. The south has 24.3 percent of jobs in Grade P4 and above.

The Central Region has 63 394 civil service jobs for a population of 7.5 million representing 0.84 percent if people in the region. In terms of position in Grade P4 and above, the region has 33 percent.

The Eastern Region has the least representation 0.35 percent for a population of 7.7 million. There are 27 253 civil servants from the Eastern Region, according to the report.