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| Business |
| MPC embarks on reform strategies |
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by
Rankin Nyekanyeka, 03 February 2005
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12:48:02
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Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has introduced various reform strategies aimed at cost reduction and revenue growth for the parastatal organisation and also providing high quality services to its customers.
The strategies are part of a Privatisation and Utility Reform Project funded by the World Bank and government.
MPC director of finance and administration Henry Shamu said the Bank pumped in US$6.5 million (about K695.5m) while government provided a US$ 3million (about (K321m) counterpart funding.
The strategies have already started paying dividend to the corporation.
Shamu said the company has witnessed a substantial reduction of its losses. The loss dropped from K184 million in 2002 to K54 million in 2003. This is estimated to drop even further to K16m for 2004.
“Given this trend, other things being constant, we should be able to realise a profit this year,” he said.
After a three year suspension, the corporation is, since last year, now able to effect cost of living adjustment on employees’ salaries.
Other benefits such as medical scheme have also been reintroduced.
Shamu said this success is partly a result of management initiative to increase the revenue base.
This involved diversifying by, among other services, running internet cafes, offering various communication and secretarial services, selling phone cards and stationery through post office counters.
In a separate interview, MPC programme director Joseph Chiusiwa said people were for some time complaining about poor services from the corporation.
“Our aim now is to offer reliable and standardised services that can satisfy our customers,” he said.
One of the new strategies to achieve this is to standardise operational procedures.
Chiusiwa said the mail services have been reorganised in such a way that there will now be a fixed period (number of days) within which mail within and between cities and districts should be delivered.
“We will be implementing this shortly as we want to offer a reliable service,” said Chiusiwa.
For this purpose, the World Bank has helped the corporation acquire mail delivery vehicles which for a start are already operational among Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu, instead of “relying on third party” means.
Chiusiwa said the corporation will also introduce mail vehicles (post bus service) which will also, as a way of off-setting costs, carry passengers to some rural areas.
“We have a social obligation. Government wants us to deliver mail even to rural places so that people there shouldn’t suffer.
“But sometimes the mail volume may not enable us to recover the costs, hence the need to carry passengers as well,” explained Chiusiwa, adding that this should be operational by the end of the year.
MPC is also contemplating franchising some postal outlets where the corporation is not operational by allowing individuals to run the services on behalf of the parastatal.
“The idea is not to exit but give ourselves flexibility to expand. Even then, we will allow only those who can meet certain standards,” said Chiusiwa.
Another major strategy is to introduce what the head of information technology Ludlas Khangamwa called an automated mail track and trace system which will help to monitor the movement of mail despatched.
“At any given delivery point, the mail number will be logged in and customers can simply check the mail status through the internet. They don’t have to bother to visit a post office,” explained Khangamwa.
Preliminary processes for international mail are already underway.
MPC is also planning to computerise counter business. The target is to automate 75 main post offices, which include all district post offices.
“We want to ensure efficiency, improve product profile, modernise and speed up money transfer services. Data will be transferred just at the touch of a button,” explained Khangamwa.
Automation will extend to major sections like financial, management, vehicle fleet, payroll and human resource, stores management, properties and real estate.
“All members of staff must be able to share information and have access to database,” he said.
Among the people who welcome the operational reforms is Bester Kalombo Jnr, post master for Blantyre.
He said handling counter services has been a “very tough” exercise dogged by so many queries and complaints from customers.
Kalombo looks at automation as a great relief and solution to the problems.
MPC came into being in 2000 after being delinked from Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (MPTC).
The biggest challenge MPC had was to sustain its operations, having had more of social services and relied too much on telecommunications as the cash base, now under Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL).
Government looked into funding so that it could become a viable entity capable of running on its own and at the same time meet the obligations set in its Act as well as satisfy licence requirements laid down by the government regulatory body, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Marca).
The process entailed restructuring which resulted in retrenchment of staff at various levels and suspension of some benefits.
It also involved training to reorient staff through a twinning arrangement between the corporation and British Postal Consultancy Services in conjunction with Frontier Economics of London.
With all the reform strategies in place, MPC hopes to improve its corporate image and be able to satisfy its customers.
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