Are Malawians Bad Employers?

The governing circle in Malawi starts either when electing their leaders through the ballot papers to

the positions of such as President or by the process of vacancy announcement through different channels like civil servants or by appointment like ministers and other similar portfolios.

The aim behind the above processes is to find the suitable personnel who can deliver required services to the Malawi citizenry without looking at any discriminatory terms like faith, tribe, or ethnicity  of  the  recipient of such services. Unfortunately the trend has been the opposite.

However, because of ignorance Malawians themselves, as a result they seem to be very bad employers as they do not take to account their employees.

While there are so many promises that the DPP government promised to the people of this nation prio to the 2014 tripartite elections, few promises  have   started   seeing the light of the day like roads refurbishment, but many promises are unlikely to be unveiled due to the economical and political challenges the country is going through.

Some of the many challenges are of own making like corruption, there is no day that passes without learning the plundering of money from one ministry to the other.

On the refurbishment of the roads the Malawi government has increased funding for the City Roads Improvement programme with K8 billion earmarked for the second phase of the programme to run up to next year.

The City roads upgrading project is aimed at improving road networking in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and the old capital city, Zomba.

In the 2015/16 financial year, government  allocated  K6   billion of the locally sourced funds to the project; and in the 2016/17 financial year the amount  has  increased to K8 billion, with government emphasizing on the need of improving all dust roads across the country’s cities and districts.

Speaking during the launch of the project’s second phase in Blantyre on Thursday, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Kondwani Nankhumwa disclosed plans to turn the project into a national-wide initiative.

“The country is facing a serious good road network challenge coupled with a huge growing traffic. As such we have a daunting task to maintain the existing roads and at the same time to increase the road network across the country,” Nankhumwa said.

“It’s a long-term programme and will soon graduate into a national roads improvement programme. Our focus is to ensure that urban areas are free of dusty and bumpy roads. Its government’s belief that these upgraded roads will spur quick economic growth.”

Nankhumwa said he was pleased that the first phase was not hampered    by    mismanagement of funds, expressing optimistic of experiencing the same with the current funding.

However, contrary to the minister’s remarks, thetype of roads Malawians are  given  is  substandard.  when insight Bulletin inspected some roads in Blantyre and Lilongwe, it is surprising to note that many roads have developed potholes just in the first rains of the season. Some roads have had potholes even before they are completed.

By the time  we  went  for  printing in Chirimba ma Land Rover to Magalasi Road contractors were busy fixing the newly constructed road, To date, Not surprising as Malawians are known for not questioning how their tax is being used, to this end no one has ever complained the substandard roads government is constructing because Malawians think this is a gift from government then they do not have a right to question for something they are being given freely.

Despite being hailed as a very good initiative the DPP has implemented on behalf  of  Malawians,  there has been also concerns on the city’s failure to monitor how the constructions of the roads are being curried out, as in some instances contractors have failed to construct drainage systems alongside these roads.

Anthony Kasunda who is Public Relations Manager never  replied to our email seeking clarity of the same, however, the Blantyre City Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Alfred Chanza confirmed that they had challenges of resources, but they have agreed with the same contractors to start putting up drainage systems in all already constructed roads.

Recently Parliamentarians have criticised government for picking contractors who are offering substandard jobs. This is happening because of bribes and  un  called for dealings are said to play a very big role for one to win construction tenders in government.