Know the late Willie Samute, Deputy Chief Secretary to Government

The late Willie W. Samute was born on February 18 1958. He came from Mamu Village, Traditional Authority Malemia, Zomba District.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science from the University of Malawi (1981)
• Post-graduate Diploma in Planning and Management of Rural Development Projects from the Pan African Institute of Rural Development, Zambia (1983)
• Post-graduate Certificate in Rural Animation from the Asian Institute for Rural Development in Bangalore, India (1986)
• Master of Arts in Rural Development from the University of Anglia from Norwich in the United Kingdom (1990)

Career Progression:

• 11th August 1981:- Joined Civil Service as Administrative Officer (Grade I)
• 1988 :- Promoted to the position of Senior Administrative Officer (Grade H)
• 1992 :- Promoted to the position of Principal Administrative Officer (Grade G)
• 1996 :- Promoted to the position of Under Secretary (Grade F);
• 2001 :- Promoted to the position of Principal Secretary (Grade C);
• 15 August 2012 :- Promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Secretary (Grade B);
• 23rd June 2014 – 27th August 2014 :- Served as Acting Chief Secretary to the Government.

Work Experience

• Worked as Principal Secretary from 2001 to 2010, in the Ministry of Health; in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for Public Sector Reforms and Capacity Development Programme; in the Department of Local Government where he steered the National Decentralisation Programme;
• Worked as the Programme Manager in the Decentralisation Secretariat under the Local Governance and Development Management Programme from 1994 to 2000;
• Worked as Associate Programme Officer in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mangochi from June 1992 to December 1993;
• Worked as Programme Coordinator for the Rural Development Section in the Office of the President and Cabinet from 1990 to 1992;
• Worked as a Senior Administrative Officer in the Finance Section of the Office of the President and Cabinet from 1986 to 1989;
• Worked as an Administrative Officer in the Rural Development Section in the Office of the President and Cabinet from 1981 to 1986.

Special Assignments:

• Secretary for the Cabinet Committee on Decentralisation;
• Chairperson in the Technical Advisory Group for the SADC’s Regional Information Centre of Local Government;
• Commissioner in the Special Law Commission of the Second Review of the Malawi Constitution;
• Consultant for the Review of the UNDP Niger Delta Local Development Programme;
• Consultant for the Kenyan Constitutional Review Conference (Devolution Chapter) for the Kenyan Local Authority Association.

Special Achievements:

• Championed the adoption of a National Decentralization Policy for Malawi;
• Successfully built the UNDP/UNCDF funded District Focus for Development Project into a multi-donor National Decentralisation Programme;
• Steered the initial Public Sector Reforms in Malawi where parastatal reforms of merger programs were conducted and finalized smoothly.

Mr. Willie W. Samute died on August 19 2015 in the Republic of South Africa after a long illness. He is survived by a wife and three children.