By Yamikani Yapuwa
Blantyre, Mana: Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) Board Chairperson, Davlin Chokazinga said the Golden Jubilee the Bureau celebrated this year provided an opportunity for them to assess their performance and identify areas of improvement.
He said this on Saturday during the Bureau Golden Jubilee celebration in Blantyre adding that as a National Standards Body, they have to believe in continuous improvement.
“This celebration is indeed of greater public importance and it provides an opportunity for us to reflect on where we are coming from and where we are going.
“This Golden Jubilee celebration is being celebrated under the theme “MBS–Partner for Industrialization”. The theme recognizes that for Malawi to achieve the Malawi 2063, especially on industrialization, the MBS has a great role to play in ensuring that our products are competitive both at regional as well as international markets,” Chokazinga said.
He called for collective efforts and commitment from MBS staff in order for the Bureau to achieve its dream of having more scopes of accreditation so that once a product was tested or certified by the MBS, it was accepted worldwide.
“Our dream should aim at improving service delivery to clients citing an example of releasing test results on time and timely certification of products and services,
“We need to have a centre of excellence in terms of training, be a reference laboratory in the region as well as be more industrial friendly where the bureau is considered as a partner for the growth of the industry and not as a policing entity,” Chokazinga added.
MBS Acting Director General, Thomas Senganimalunje said over the years, the MBS has achieved a lot of milestones which are witnessed through availability of quality products and services from local producers and service providers on the market.
“It should be noted that when the MBS was established in 1972, it was only testing pesticides residues in tobacco samples destined for exports.
“We are able to provide a lot of services from standards development to conformity assessment, where testing of food and non-food products, verification and calibration of weighing and measuring instruments and also certification of locally produced imported and exported products and services are done.
“One significant achievement worth mentioning is the construction of the new purpose-built Laboratory and Office Complex,” he said.
Senganimalunje urged small scale industries to involve the Bureau at the onset of their production so that they should be able to assist them with the technical expertise on how to go about it.
“We have to understand what is required for a product to be certified in the first place. What we say is that those people who are helping the small-scale industries to manufacture products are doing a very good.
“They must come to us and ask us on how we can get involved on the onset not coming to us with a finished product because a lot of things might have been wrong already, in that case ,we are seen as an impediment to their success,” he said.
During the celebrations, MBS Management recognized and honoured 15 members of staff who by October 1, 2022 have continuously served the Bureau for 25 years and above.
The Bureau awarded four winners of African Organisation for Standardisation Essay competition.
