In continued pursuit to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the Civil Service, His Excellency the State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, has directed that the Office of the President and Cabinet be restructured by relocating some of its current functions to their relevant sectoral ministries in the first phase as follows :

1. The Department of HIV/AIDS and Nutrition and the Safe Motherhood Initiative to be relocated to the Ministry of Health.

2. the Presidential Initiative on Poverty and Hunger Reduction to be relocated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.

3. The National Registration Bureau, which is responsible for the National I.D. Project, to be relocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

4. The Government Contracting Unit to be relocated to the Office of the Director of Public Procurement.

Following this restructuring, the Office of the President and Cabinet shall revert to its core business of management of the public service and cabinet affairs.

Government has also decided to introduce the following measures with immediate effect :

1. Chief Executive Officers of Public institutions, Principal Secretaries and other senior public officers need to spend more time attending to their core functions. As a result of this, Chief Executive officers, Principal Secretaries and public officers will not be allowed to attend public or presidential functions except where the functions or events pertain to their organisations.

Government wishes to stress that Chief Executive Officers, Principal Secretaries and senior public officials will be recognised through their performance and NOT by the number of public events which they will attend.

2. Women civil servants will only be allowed to perform at public functions which directly relate to their profession or organisation or at an event to commemorate an anniversary or celebration of national or international significance. In such cases, Controlling Officers will be required to exercise strict discretion on the number of female civil servants to participate in such events.

CIVIL SERVICE AND PUBLIC SERVICE REFORMS COMMISSION
LILONGWE
12TH July 2014