Secretary to the Treasury, Ben Botolo, has expressed dismay over the continued poor performance of some parastatals which are failing to make profits and declare dividends to the government.

Botolo singled out the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) and water boards as some of the parastatals that have performed poorly in the 2017/2018 financial year.

This follows the signing of new letters of expectations for the financial year 2018/2019 by the parastatals and the government on targets of service delivery on Wednesday in Lilongwe.

Botolo said that he expects the parastatals to take the initiative seriously as it is done in accordance with the law and that they are working on linking the non-performing parastatals to financials to improve their services.

“If you look at water, we need clean water and there is the international convention on the supply of clean water to everyone so we need to invest in it and make sure those companies are able to sell water at the right price.

“Some of them have the potential. To Admarc and others that are performing badly, we are saying can you have your business plan ready? These letters that they have signed will help them check their performance from time to time,” Botolo said.

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) is among the parastatals that were listed to be performing well and declared dividends.

When asked about political influence in their operations, Mera Chief Executive Officer, Collins Magalasi, said there is no such thing, hence their ability to perform and that they will continue to work hard and implement what is contained in the letter of commitment.