Uncle Harvest:In comes the Presidential Delivery Unit

Are we this time around provided with a channel through which significant change and transformation will take place, the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), or this too will come to naught?

The PDU has been set up to fast-track the attainment of the strategic objectives of the Presidential Transformation Agenda to deliver on jobs, wealth and food security to Malawians.

It will be noted that the PDU has been set up at the Office of the President and Cabinet, the very seat of government bureaucracy and hence conservatism.

Will the OPC this time round cast off its dinosaur like characteristics of a slow reacting nervous system and adopt a more agile, flexible and adaptive characteristic like that of a rabbit?

Will OPC move away from the" business as usual" mindset to one that is dynamic enough to absorb the challenges posed by the urgency of the need to move the Malawi Public Service out of the Comfort Zone, plunge into the Sea of Doubt that change is, full of uncertainties, as it leads the swim towards the new desired national goals.

This will obviously be a source of a lot of uncertainty, unfounded fears and major resistance to change that will need to be managed with a certain amount of courage.

It was delightful to hear the Secretary to the President and Cabinet boast about how well educated and trained public servants at the highest levels of the Malawi Public Service are.

The question, however, is: “Is this sufficient to guarantee Malawians that this team led by the SPC will deliver on behalf of Malawians? Do they possess sufficient professional will power and courage to cause the necessary disruption it will take and then manage it, successfully steering the ship through high waves and deep waters to the desired outcomes?”

The greatest temptation in any change process is to desire transformation at the least cost of pain.

Be assured, painless transformation is a misnomer.

As long as these public officers will want to sustain "comfort", no significant change will take place.

It is delightful to note that Ms Collen Zamba, a Malawian economic professional both at national and international level has been given the opportunity to lead the Presidential Delivery Unit.

Information on Uncle Harvest's desk shows that she was the UNDP's economic expert and advisor to Zambia when that country graduated from the group of Least Developed Countries and previously worked in the UNDP's office in Nigeria on a similar assignment.

It is therefore hoped that she brings with her tremendous experience and expertise into the job.

Further, that this would inject confidence in development partners.

Let us for once trust our own expertise in the transformation of this country.

There are a lot of very good public servants at senior cadre of the Malawi Public Service, who if given chance would partner with Ms Collen Zamba and lead in the transformation of this country.

These would need visible support from national leadership. We still have positive grains of professionals to accomplish the task ahead.

A warning to the Secretary to the President and Cabinet would be: there are also a lot of dead wood too, some that from the word go are sowrn on their dead bodies that this effort will also fail just like many others before it.

They are also sworn never to voluntarily leave as suggested by the SPC.

As Secretary to the President and Cabinet, you have to develop a strong backbone, a tough skin and unwavering resolve to provide leadership from the front to this endevour's success.

You have been offered an opportunity to prove to 'naysayers' that you are capable at providing the necessary transformational leadership the Malawi Public Service needs for the twenty first century.

Prove the naysayers wrong for once.

In comes the Presidential Delivery Unit.