Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba on Wednesday said government expects high performance from statutory corporations and state-owned enterprises.

Zamba made the remarks at Nkopola Sunbird Hotel in Mangochi when she opened Corporate Governance Orientation Workshop for the newly appointed boards of State Corporation and state-owned enterprises jointly organised by Department of Parastatals in the Office of President and Cabinet and Malawi School of Government.

She observed under performance in some parastatals and other state-owned enterprises that was characterised by wastefulness and self-enriching tendencies contrary to government and citizens expectations.

“You have been appointed with the responsibility to put in place systems and controls that should safeguard public resources for the benefit of Malawians and you are also expected to ensure that ethics, integrity and accountability prevail in your institutions to bring back public trust in the parastatals,” she said.

As such, she said government will not tolerate wastefulness, plunder of public resources in state corporations and state-owned enterprises at the expense of tax payers’ money as government will not hastate to issue serious penalties to the perpetrators without fear of favour,” she added.

Zamba therefore said there is need for the boards of state-owned enterprises to understand institutions mandate and legal instruments that established their respective institutions, adding that each board will be assessed on how this will be realised.

Controller of Statutory Corporations in the Office of President, Peter Simbani said at the end of the orientation workshop the participants are expected to understand human and finance resource management skills, prevailing legislature and government policies apart from understanding the Malawi Vision 2063.

Chairperson of the Council of Malawi School of Government, Professor, Lewis Dzimbiri said the Malawi School of Government has the mandate to develop human resource in public and private sector and will continue to build capacity of statutory institutions for effective performance.

Source:Mana