President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Tuesday launched the awaited Civil Servants’ Medical Scheme at Capital Hill in Lilongwe with a call for a reconstruction of the civil service to achieve improved delivery of service.
The medical scheme for civil servants is one of the promises Chakwera made during his campaign ahead of both the nullified 2019 presidential election as well as the court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election in June 2020.
The President said he was delighted to have presided over the launch of the scheme several months after its successful rollout, hoping that it will motivate the employees to deliver their best in their various portfolios.
“It has always been clear in my mind that the key to improving public service delivery to the Malawian people is the reconstruction of the civil service. By reconstruction, I do not mean simply moving around the furniture as has been the practice. If the socioeconomic development of the country is contingent on a vibrant civil service, then it will never be sufficient for us to simply move and reshuffle civil servants around ministries, departments and agencies,” said Chakwera.
He added, “We have to reconstruct the structure of the civil service itself, re-recruit top notch technocrats to strategic positions within it, revamp its operations by having a truly meritorious system, and reform its terms of reference and performance review system so that no nonperforming individuals can continue to hide in its ranks.”
But President Chakwera emphasized that reconstruction of the civil service is a long-term project that his government is working on.
He said as the country awaits full implementation of the project, Malawians must attend to the conditions of service for their civil servants.
“One of the challenges we must address in order to attract top tier talent into the reconstructed civil service we will roll out in the future is the conditions of service, and medical insurance cover is a critical aspect of that. It has now been two years since my Administration introduced the Civil Servants’ Medical Scheme that we are officially launching today, and already the impact has been enormous. Through this scheme, we have created a sense that the well-being of our civil servants matters, not just their work. Through this scheme, we have ensured that there is equity in access to health care in the public sector, not favouritism. Through this scheme, we are investing public resources in something that yields long term dividends in productivity, not wasting them on consumption. This is also why we are investing and allocating resources for the completion of the Capital Hill Clinic, because we cannot begin to speak of a better Civil Service when we have no mechanism of making civil servants better when they are indisposed,” he stated.
President Chakwera reminded Malawians that healthcare is just one aspect that his administration is working on to improve the conditions of service for the civil servants ahead of a wholesale reconstruction of the civil service that is in the pipeline.
He said his administration has other measures for improving the Civil Service conditions of service, which include the provision of local and international training to public servants in order to upgrade their skills under the Malawi Government Scholarship Fund; the provision of a ring-fenced budget for recruitment and training of officers in the health, education and security sectors.
Others are the annual revision of salaries and benefits for public servants to cushion officers from the rising cost of living; the introduction of new welfare incentives such as transport allowance and special allowance.
“I know that there is no government in the world in which public servants are given everything they want or everything they deserve. I know that to be a public servant is a sacrifice and a service to one’s country, which often entails accepting that yours is a thankless job. And I know that in our context especially, we are observing austerity measures that restrict our ability to spend money willy-nilly across the service. However, that does not mean that we should not make an effort to make things better for our civil servants where it is in our power to do so, nor does it mean that we cannot show our civil servants appreciation in other ways that do not have expenditure implications. In fact, my office will soon announce a Civil Servants Appreciation Day that will give all Malawians an opportunity to appreciate the civil servants around them who work tirelessly to make their lives better. If we appreciate those who serve, they will in turn find it a joy to serve,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of civil servants, Ruth Nkhambule Kaleya, a teacher at Kabwabwa Community Day Secondary School (CDSS), expressed gratitude to the government for the initiative, assuring that it will motivate them to work harder in their respective professions.
Kaleya acknowledged that the initiative demonstrates the government’s continued effort and commitment to improving the welfare of the employees.
“The Medical Scheme does not only serve as a safety net for our health, but also motivates commitment and dedication to duty as we now discharge our duties without the worry of healthcare expenses. It also reinforces our belief that our health is our employer’s priority,” she said.
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