Resizing Civil Service in Malawi: International Organization Guidelines and Administrative Realities

The reduction in the number of government employees is the direct consequence of programs devised by IFI (international financial institution) experts aiming to reorganize the public sector according to World Bank & IMF guidelines. However, far from altering the underlying dynamics & structures of the civil service, the reforms undertaken have reinforced cleavages inherited from the colonial period & heightened tensions. The process of reorganizing the civil service in Malawi is a case the prompts one to question the relevance of the instrumental view of good governance touted by the IFI, a vision based on a decontextualized & ahistoric concept of a "dysfunctional" state that can be "repaired" using the "tools" proposed by experts. For it indeed seems that even when IFI objectives have been met, public sector reform, which primarily aims to orient transformations in Malawi in a direction favored by the "donor community," has not at all helped to make the bureaucracy more efficient. It is on the contrary more fragmented than ever. "Enclaves" enjoy IFI financial & logistic support & supervising ministries fight for the meager resources, while "juniors," the many subordinate civil servants in the country's administration, are increasingly taking their distance from their "bosses.". Adapted from the source document.