(NYASATIMES) Consumer watchdog urges government to hire new vibrant bosses for parastatals

Friday, July 17, 2009

(NYASATIMES) Consumer watchdog urges government to hire new vibrant bosses for parastatals

Consumer watchdog urges government to hire new vibrant bosses for parastatals
By Nyasa Times

Consumer watchdog, CAMA has asked President Bingu wa Mutharika to reform parastatals other than consider shutting them down because of not performing.

President Mutharika warned when he opened budget sitting of parliament that he will close all parastatals which are not performing.

The performance of public enterprises continues to be mixed. Some statutory corporations have been running perpetually at a loss. Those that fail to perform will definitely be closed down,” Mutharika said in State of the Nation Address entitled Malawi’s Economic Miracle.

But the Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) executive director John Kapito said the solution for the President is not to close such state owned companies but appoint bosses who can deliver.

“Appointment of management (in these parastatals) has been political, there is need to reverse the trend,” Kapito told Capital Radio.

“There has been a lot of political patronage in these parastatals,” he said

The outspoken consumer activist cited power company, Escom for poor services whereby power-blackouts have been the order of the day.

He said the top brass decision making is poor and urged the bosses to “move out and pave way for new thinking”.

Finance Minister Ken Kandodo told parliament that government has lined up a number of reforms to the underperforming parastatal organizations aimed at improving their performances.

Kandodo assured that government will help improve the sectors performance as they pose a fiscal burden when underperforming and shared similar sentiments with Kapito that some of the reasons that led to underperformance of some organizations in the sector were poor management decisions and investment in infrastructure.

“Causes of the underperformance include poor management decisions such as poor allocation of resources and inadequate levels of maintenance and investment in infrastructure,” said Malawi’s Finance Minister.

“Mr. Speaker Sir, Government will continue to strengthen governance structures in all parastatals by strengthening boards of parastatals in ensuring that there is a mix of key skills,” said.

He added that the executive management of various parastatals will be strengthened by strict adherence to a policy of recruitment based on merit.

The parastatals that have performed include; Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA), Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC), Airport Developments Limited (ADL) and the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC).

However, Air Malawi, Agricultural Development and Marketing (ADMARC), Malawi Post and Communications (MPC), and the Blantyre Water Board are among the notable parastatals that have underperformed.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, PARASTATALS