Malawi Public Sector Reforms Programme

The Government of Malawi will be using the Public Sector Reforms. Making Malawi Work Column to share with Malawians various achievements by different Sectors and Institutions in the Public Service with regards to the undertaking of various reforms by the Malawi Public Sector. To date reforms are being undertaken in seventeen (17) Ministries, thirty-five (35) Local Government Councils and fifty-four (54) Statutory Corporations. These Reforms are spearheaded by the President of the Republic of Malawi Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika through his office, the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Capital Hill, Lilongwe 3, Malawi<

The Government of the Republic of Malawi has since independence in 1964, been implementing Public Sector Reforms to improve public sector governance, efficiency and effectiveness that are crucial for delivery of quality services to citizens for realizing national development goals and for making Malawi globally competitive

Previous reforms have however had mixed results and consequently limited impact on overall public sector transformation. The Government under the Presidency of Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, launched the Public Sector Reforms Agenda on 11th February 2015 to demonstrate His Excellency the President’s commitment to transforming the Public Sector so that it can become competitive and modernised.

The effective implementation of the Public Sector Reforms has been a collective undertaking from the launch in 2015 and the journey started with seven (7) pioneer Ministries and one (1) Department that signed Reforms Performance Contracts with His Excellency President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika highlighting their proposed reform areas and making public commitments to deliver on their plans within specified time periods. By February 2016, reforms for the remaining Ministries were approved and implementation commenced.

Fifty-four (54) Statutory Corporations commenced the implementation of their proposed reforms in October, 2015 after they were approved by the State President. By December, 2016, all the thirty five (35) District, Municipal, Town and City Councils had submitted their proposed reforms which marked the completeness of putting all public sector institutions on the reforms programme. Reforms for District, Municipal, Town and City Councils were approved by His Excellency the President in January, 2017 for immediate implementation.

To date reforms are being undertaken in seventeen (17) Ministries, thirty-five
(35) Local Government Councils and fifty-four (54) Statutory Corporations. As the situation stands today tremendous strides have been realized in the Public Sector Reforms Flagship Programme. Some notable reforms currently realised include the following:

Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)

1. Decentralisation of service delivery for efficiency and effectiveness.
   • Decentralization of functions and payment of salaries of 17 devolved sectors to councils from central level. This includes the Ministry of Education and Health which have high numbers of members of staff who previously suffered from delayed salary payments or being skipped on the payroll. This reform has successfully put an end to the problem.
   • Decentralization of printing of passports to Lilongwe, Mangochi and Mzuzu. Before the reforms, passports were only being printed in Blantyre only.
   • Establishment of Mlambe One Stop Service Centres in Lilongwe and Mangochi which are centres that offer public services by Malawi Postal Corporation, Malawi Revenue Authority, Department of Immigration, Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services, the Registrar General all under one roof. The National Registration Bureau is expected to join the other departments at the centre. The centres were launched on 29th March 2018 by President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
2. Establishment and implementation of Higher Education Students’ Fund.
3. Upgrade of the Malawi Traffic Information System (MalTIS) currently operational at 4 centres, namely Lilongwe,
   Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu.
4. Introduction of Registration of Birth and Death Certificates and their issuance.
5. Production and issuance of National Identity Cards. This reform has brought about a national identification system which has transformed the way services are delivered to the people in health, banking and finance, tax payment and electoral registration among other services. Currently over Thirteen million, three hundred and forty six thousand, nine hundred and forty two (13,346,942) Malawian citizens aged 16 years and above, have been registered and IDs issued. Continuous registration goes on.
6. Signing of new revised Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) to act as a guiding contract for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the Districts and local CHAM health providers in pursuit of Government’s efforts to achieve universal health coverage. In the just ended 2017/18 Financial Year, a total of 130 health facilities out of the 149 (87%) targeted facilities signed the SLA contracts under the new MOU. The remaining contracts will be completed in the just started financial year.
7. Introduction of Performance Contracts between the President and Ministers. Organizational Performance Assessment (OPA) was successfully launched and Performance Contracts were signed between the President and Ministers.
8. Enabling reform legislations passed in Parliament. Some of the legislations are the Malawi National Public Service Reforms Policy, Malawi Public Service Management Policy, Public Procurement Act, Land Bills, Energy Bills, Access to Information Act and others.

Parastatal Organisations
Parastatal Organisations in the following sectors: Agricultural and Water, Communications, Education, Energy and Natural Resources, Financial, Housing, Tourism, Industry and Trade initiated a number of reforms and notable milestones, among others are as follows:

1. Installation of a Toll-gate (Common Use Terminal Equipment-CUTE) and car park automation at Kamuzu International Airport has been fully implemented by Airport Development Limited (ADL) and has increased revenue collection. Both reforms have seen ADL realising monthly revenue of approximately MK10 million each. Prior to the reforms the car park monthly revenue was amounting to MK2.3 million only.
2. TEVETA subcontracted a levy collection system to Malawi Revenue Authority and the actual levy income has increased. A total of MK3.1 billion was collected in 2016/17 financial year (FY) which is the second year of reforms against MK1.4 billion in the first year of reforms jumping from MK900 million collected in the year before reforms.
3. Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has managed to reduce Non-revenue water thereby improving water distribution network and revenue for the Board, realizing annual gains amouting MK204 million.
4. Blantyre Water Board’s (BWB) revenue collection improved to about MK1 billion per month as a result of successful implementation of initial reform areas such as “Mobile Billing” and Pre-paid metering.
5. ADMARC adopted a commercial function as one of its reform areas by engaging in value addition and crop diversification. The Corporation purchased, added value and sold 5,560.78Mt of products in 2016/17 representing 96.7% value addition compared to 2,000Mt the previous year. Furthermore, all the Lint and cotton seed was
   sold at a value of MK 2.746 billion during the 2016/17 Financial Year (FY) compared to MK0.872 billion in the 2015/16 FY.
6. Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) started implementing the Standardization Quality Assurance and Metrology (SQAM) Project in January, 2016. The project is expected to be completed on 3 December 2018 after which Malawi products will be accepted without further retesting locally and internationally. The project is pegged at MK12.4 billion.
7. ESCOM achieved its two reform areas firstly by successfully unbundling its functions leading to the creation of EGENCO and secondly by migrating customers from post paid to pre-paid meters. A total of 334, 279 customers were migrated to pre-paid meters against a total Customer Base of 374,975 Customers representing 89% success rate as at July 2017.
8. Introduction of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) by MRA will enhance tax revenue collection through capturing non-compliant customers.

District, Municipal, Town and City Councils
District, Municipal, Town, and City Councils covering all the 35 Councils have since January, 2017 been implementing reforms to ensure efficient and effective delivery of public services, most of the common focus areas for Reforms in City, Town, Municipal, and Districts Councils are as follows:

1. Improvement in service delivery in Health, Education, Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Services. (ii) Financial Management and Resource Mobilisation (Revenue Generation).
2. Infrastructure Development.
3. Local Governance and Decentralization.
4. Environmental Management and Climate change adaptation.
5. Improvement in Human Resources Management and Administration.
6. Participatory planning and Development.
7. Food Security and Agricultural production.
8. Urban Development.
9. Disaster Risk Management.
10. Information Communication and Technology (District Web Sites).
11. Population Growth Control.
12. Promotion of Tourism Sector and Cultural heritage.

Other Notable Reforms include:

1. Green Belt Initiative (GBI) was turned into GBI Holdings Ltd which will improve food security, create employment and foreign exchange generation.
2. Establishment of Malawi School of Government (MSG) is at an
   advanced stage and the Bill has been drafted.
3. The review of the Public Service Act has been concluded and the Bill will shortly be tabled before Parliament. The new Public Service Act is expected to enforce Meritorious Appointment in the Public Service.
4. Rightsizing the Public Service is underway such that Principal Secretaries who are Controlling Officers in Ministries were reduced to 20 from 46.
5. Establishment of the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances and Public Service Reforms to provide oversight function on the implementation of the reforms.
6. Establishment of a National Planning Commission to ensure continuity of development agenda regardless of change of Government.
7. Following President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s directive that civil servants should wear locally produced cloths every Friday, most officers have embraced the practice which is aimed at empowering local entrepreneurs and companies through the “Buy Malawian Initiative”. The concept has also brought about the spirit of unity and togetherness among civil servants, non-state actors and the general public hence attesting to the fact that mindset change is a possibility among Malawians.

Consequently, the Office of the President and Cabinent (OPC) through the Public Sector Reforms Management Unit (PSRMU) will continue to update the public on the progress that has been made in the Public Sector Reforms Programme. Thus the Public Sector Reforms Management Unit has herewith introduced a column in the country’s two daily papers, The Nation and Daily Times Newspapers to highlight the Reforms that are being implemented in different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Parastatals and the Local Government Councils.

Malawians will have an opportunity to give their feedback on the highlighted reforms via email as a way of helping Government to continuously put in place measures that will make “Malawi Work.”

Feedback:
opcreforms@gmail.com