Minister of Local Government Ben Phiri has ignited a national backlash after floating a controversial proposal that would compel council civil servants to be posted only to their districts of origin — a move critics say reeks of discrimination, laziness in policy thinking, and dangerous regionalism. Phiri claims the current deployment system is “killing service delivery”, arguing that officers who work far from their home areas are lazy, uncommitted and more interested in travelling than developing districts. Speaking during a tour of Nsanje District Council on Friday, the minister launched a blistering attack on civil servants who commute from other districts, accusing them of sabotaging local development through absenteeism and poor work ethic.
“Right now everyone is working everywhere. Some officers are not dedicated at all. They drive 60, 80, even 100 kilometres to work every morning, and by mid-afternoon they are already thinking of the long journey back.
How do you expect a district to develop under such antics?” Phiri said. He singled out Nsanje, claiming some officers had not even reported for duty by 9:00am because they were travelling from Blantyre — about 145 kilometres away. Phiri insisted that the solution is simple: recruit locals and send everyone back “home”.
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“If we recruited local graduates who live within the district, these problems would not exist. They would report on time, stay the whole day, and be driven by the desire to develop their own communities,” he said. But the proposal has drawn fierce criticism from governance experts and civil servants, who argue the minister is masking systemic failures — such as poor supervision, weak performance management, lack of staff housing and poor working conditions — with a lazy and potentially unconstitutional policy.
They also question why government is blaming workers for long commutes instead of fixing the real problems: low salaries that force officers to live far from duty stations, lack of decent housing in rural districts, and a culture of political patronage that already cripples local governance. The proposed policy, if adopted, would represent one of the most radical and divisive shifts in Malawi’s public service deployment system — and could open a legal and political minefield, with serious implications for national unity, labour rights, and constitutional equality. What Phiri calls “reform”, many see as a dangerous shortcut that punishes workers instead of fixing a broken system.
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