LILONGWE-In an apparent demonstration of commitment and desire to serve Malawians as promised ahead of the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election, President Lazarus Chakwera has on Monday launched the Presidential Delivery Lab at Capitol Hill with a call for collaboration among all the stakeholders.
Giving a background of the landmark initiative, Chakwera said the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) is a special room in his office with a team of professionals working around the clock to ensure that the key priorities that the Tonse promised to deliver for Malawians are being implemented by the MDAs.
The President also emphasized that the PDU and the Public Sector Reforms being led by the Vice-President Saulos Klaus Chilima are two different sides of the same coin.
“To be precise, the Public Sector Reforms focus on ensuring that all MDAs are functioning efficiently without the needless bureaucracy and red tape that often hinder progress. The Presidential Delivery Unit, on the other hand, identifies those MDAs which are responsible for implementing the key priorities of this Administration and ensures that those priorities are being delivered on time,” he said.
Wise as he is, the Malawi leader used a metaphor to elaborate how the PDU, PSR and MDAs will be working in collaboration with a common goal of delivering wealth, jobs and food security to Malawians.
Chakwera equated himself to a bus driver while giving Chilima a role of mechanic to fix the vehicle whenever it has a puncture on the way.
“I, as President, am the driver of this vehicle, and the PDU is the pedal I will use to give direction and acceleration to the car so that the goods are delivered on time. Dr. Chilima, as Vice-President and Minister Responsible for Public Sector Reforms, is the mechanic who travels with me to repair the parts of the vehicle that need to be serviced to prevent breakdowns and accidents.
“That means that those of you who are Public Servants, especially those of you who are in charge of MDAs, are the conductors of the minibus, and your job is to make sure that the goods we are to deliver are onboard and in good condition,” said Chakwera.
“As you all know, it is possible to have a good driver, a good mechanic, and a good minibus, but still fail to deliver the goods we promised Malawians because the conductors failed or forgot to put the goods on the bus or failed to protect the goods from damage, theft, or loss along the way,” he added in an attempt to emphasize on the significance of MDAs.
As a leader who has been criticizing the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for lip-service, Chakwera made it clear that the Delivery Lab is a place for action not mere talk as it has always been the case since 1994 when Malawi embraced multiparty democracy.
“You must understand that the Delivery Lab is a place for collaborating on ACTION, not collaborating on talking. Talk is cheap, and yet when it is allowed to distract us from delivery, talk can be very costly.
“That is why I decided to call the four-week project that starts today a lab, because a lab is a place for ACTION. As a place for ACTION, you can expect to experience six things in the lab whenever I call you in to collaborate with my office on delivering one of our key priorities.”
From the word ‘ACTION’ President Chakwera said the stakeholders should expect Accountability, Collaboration, Troubleshooting, Innovation, Opportunity and Necessity whenever they are called in the lab.
“This is the new Malawi. So let’s get to work,” said Chakwera as he wound up his speech amid cheering from the audience.
Speaking earlier, Chilima said the delivery labs will help civil servants to map out ways of delivering the national vision.
“For Tonse Alliance to achieve its dreams the government machinery must move efficiently with speed. Success is a choice and that Malawi has today chosen to succeed,” said Chilima.
Commenting on social media, many Malawians have welcomed the initiative saying it will go long to end inefficiency in government departments.
