Post office reforms on track
The Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has said the refurbishment process of post offices—which involves rebranding and face-lifting of the structures to provide enough office space for the provision of services some government services—is on course.
The development, part of the Public Service Sector Reforms agenda, kicked off in October last year with the refurbishment of Lilongwe and Mangochi post offices in a pilot phase to enable government agencies and departments to provide their services at post offices.
Responding to an emailed questionnaire this week, postmaster general Andrew Kumbatira said the pilot phases of the project are expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“The two pilot post offices, Lilongwe and Mangochi, are under the refurbishment process and work is in progress so as to accommodate government departments that will provide the services that Malawians commonly use,” he said.
According to Kumbatira, after completing the refurbishment of the two post offices, similar work would start at Blantyre, Salima, Mzuzu and Mzimba post offices.
Some of the government services expected to be accessed from the post offices include renewal of driving licences, renewal of passports, business and company registration, births registration and issue of birth certificates and taxpayer services.
The One Stop Centre—closely linked with Malawi Revenue Authority’s Domestic Taxes Division expansion drive—seeks to open new offices at post offices to get closer to the taxpayer as one way of enhancing tax compliance.
According to MRA, the new domestic taxes offices will be opened in post offices at Nchalo, Limbe, Ntcheu, Nkhotakota and Bwalo La Njobvu in Lilongwe in the first phase of the exercise.
MPC, a statutory corporation established in June 2000 following the delinking of Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, provides postal, financial and any other services incidental to transmission of postal articles.
MPS has a network of 180 post offices throughout the country and its postal network is further enhanced by 154 postal agencies nationwide which fall under the jurisdiction of district councils.
