Vice President Saulos Chilima’s visit to Mzuzu City on Tuesday has revealed serious inefficiencies that disqualify it from even being called a city.
Chilima, who is currently engaging the Chief Executive Officers of parastatal Organisations and Directors of Finance in the Northern Region on his civil service reforms drive, has, for instance, been appalled by poor waste management in the city.
The Vice President has, however, suggested to Mzuzu Council to introduce a ‘Keep Mzuzu City Clean Initiative’ as one way of keeping up the city’s beauty.
Chilima was also displeased with the state of Mzuzu Airport which has the capacity to harbour big aircrafts that can export agricultural produce such as beef and coffee; but it is currently marked by footpaths created by passersby and animals which are tethered within the airport premises. He however, suggested to have the airport fenced up in the shortest possible period of time.
Commenting on the development, team leader for public sector reforms, Seodi White, said everyone needs to account for the job they do within the civil service.
“At this point in time, to be honest, everything is urgent. When you look at the state of our cities and consider where we have come from, we just need to push it. So, how we make sure that we push it is that we have to enhance and be clear about individual performance in the public service. This is a quickest thing that’s missing. We have to know, what is XYZ? What is Seodi White doing from day 1 to 30? And how can she be made accountable for that? That way, if you put me in charge, I will know I have an accountability plan which I will have to account to my superiors,” said White.
On his part, Mzuzu City Council Chief Executive Officer, Gomezgani Nyasulu, said the city will engage Mzuzu University on how they can manage the waste by generating energy out of it.
On Wednesday, the Vice President will engage the northern region based private sector small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on how best they can improve service delivery.
Since his appointment as the Minister of Economic Development and Public Sector Reforms, Chilima has been engaging heads of parastatals and Directors of Finance in all the major regions of the country in order to boost service delivery in both public and private sectors of the economy.
