Milking a thin cow?

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Blackouts or load shedding as they call it have become a frequent visitor in our homes, offices and factories.

They may be unwelcome, but people living in towns and cities are forced to coexist with the realities of water disruptions and power failures.

A week hardly passes without residents in Blantyre and Lilongwe to experience water disruptions and power failures.

The situation is the same in almost all the major cities and towns the difference being intensity and timing of the water shortages and blackouts.

And each time such problems occur, officials from the water bodies avail themselves through the media telling thirsty citizens why they are being denied their right to life [since water is life].

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), too, gives its own reasons why their clients are subjected to unnecessary darkness as if they had not paid their utility bills.

When they choose to do so, officials from water boards throw the blame on ESCOM for failing to provide enough for pumping the precious commodity to its rightful consumers.

If you fall sick and happen to visit our country’s major hospitals and health centres, you hardly get the services on time.

Not because nurses or clinicians do not want to serve you, but lack of the same is the major challenge facing our health facilities.

Stories of pregnant delivering their babies without the assistance of healthcare providers are just common in our midst.

Mountains of garbage in Lilongwe , Blantyre and Mzuzu are fast becoming part of life for residents in these cities.

Sometimes you turn to wonder whether officials at the assemblies do care about the health of the residents.

General Secretary for Malawi Municipal Workers Union (MAMWU), Phillimon Chimbalu, admitted the performance of the civil servants does not satisfy the expectations public and their employer, government.

“Honestly speaking, members of the general public have been a given raw deal on the services they are getting from us,” said Chimbalu Thursday during the commemoration of this year’s Quality Public Service in Lilongwe .

“Sometimes the way we, in the civil service, handle our clients leaves a lot to be desired. We are not giving the services they need. It is really sad to see patients on long queues waiting for many hours to access medical help,” he added.

President of the Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU), Eliah Kamphinda concurred with Chimbalu saying it is high time civil servants started delivering to the required standards.

But Kamphinda wondered how government and the general public could expect them to provide satisfactory services when they are denied better working conditions of service and necessary equipment.

“We have been criticized from left to right by the media once a problem of power failure or shortage of water occurs. But the question people need to ask themselves is: do public servants have the required materials and resources for them to work?

“Blantyre Water Board is using pipes which were bought in 1964, do you expect them to pump water as they used to 30 years ago? No, that is asking for too much,” said Kamphinda.

He added, “In some police stations, you cannot find a mere plain paper for recording details of suspects. Do you expect them to be professional?”

The CSTU president stated that civil servants were ready to work with government in providing Malawians with basic and social services, but said government, too, need to understand their grievances.

“Time has come for government to provide us with both human and material resources necessary for us to perform our duties to the expectation of our clients. We need more health workers in all health centres. Only then shall people put the blame on the deserving party,” he disclosed.

Chimbalu, on the other hand, advised people to demand for services from the public servants saying they have a right to do so.

“I don’t have problems with people criticizing us for failing to perform our duties. Actually, I would like to see more people demanding for better services from the civil service. They have a right to do so,” said Chimbalu.

END