A grouping under the banner Independent Civil Society, says President Lazarus Chakwera should not be forced to make public a report on public sector reforms.
This is according to chairperson of the society Caesar Kondowe, who in company of activist Unandi Banda and Noel Maganga, told journalists in Blantyre on Saturday that it is very worrisome that some individuals and Civil Society Organizations are pressurizing President Chakwera to make the report public.
This is coming on the sidelines of a leaked document purported to be the public sector review report which has ignited a heated debate on the need for president Chakwera to authenticate it and officially make the document available in the public domain.
However, Independent Civil Society is of the view that Chakwera should not be forced to publicize the public and civil service reforms report claiming the better way is just implementing the recommendations.
According to the grouping, Chakwera need to be given adequate time to implement the Public Sector Reforms and Systems Review report which was submitted to him two years ago by a team led by Vice President Saulos Chilima.
“We feel like the assignment that the President did to the committee was generally to make strategic recommendation of what should be done in terms of improving the civil service. So that was a referral document to the Office of the President in terms of implementing strategic decisions for the welfare of the nation.
“So what we have seen is that some people are making different opinions on the same regarding maybe the President would have made this document public, the document could have gone to parliament, and so on and so forth. We feel like that was not necessary. What is more important is changing the nation for the better. So we have seen the government took a very good approach in terms of just implementing what is so important for the nation rather than just making a debate with the nation in terms of what is in the document,” said Kondowe.
Kondowe further said the president has got the prerogative either to adopt the document in totality or just to adopt issues that the president feel are very important for decision making and civil service improvement.
