Two years ago, the CoST Board introduced the CoST awards. These annual awards are competitively won across CoST members on the implementation of the CoST four-pronged approach.
The CoST Board recently launched a new set of awards, for individuals within CoST member countries, cities and states who show longstanding commitment to infrastructure transparency. The first award was given to Joe Ching’ani the outgoing Chairperson of the CoST Malawi Multistakeholder group (MSG). Joe has served on the MSG for 16 years and has served in this capacity voluntarily. Joe has withered several storms and shown extra ordinary commitment to championing the tenets of good governance, accountability, transparency, participation and inclusion in Malawi’s infrastructure development agenda.
His credible work was worth the recognition and the award was handed over to him by the Minister of Transport and Public Works in Malawi. The award was delivered to Joe, during the 7th Construction conference organized by Malawi’s National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) under the theme, “Innovate, Adapt, Excel: Navigating the Future of a Quality-Driven Construction Industry.”
The three-day conference held in August 2024 provided space for 230 sector players mostly from government and private sector to discuss pertinent issues in the sector, it was be officiated by the Minister of Transport and Public Works representing the Head of State, HE Lazarus Chakwera, the President of Malawi. The president was represented by the Minister of Transport and Public Works, Honourable Jacob Hara, Member of Parliament who urged participants to explore ways that will ensure that Malawi effectively embarks on meaningful import substitution, quantify the industry’s contribution to the job market and offer alternative and more resource efficient project financing avenues.
CoST International was represented by Prof. George Ofori and Olive Kabatwairwe. Prof. George Ofori delivered a keynote address on behalf of the CoST International Secretariat, under the theme “contracting sustainability in the construction industry with experiences and lessons from CoST members.”
The keynote address reflected on the importance of business integrity, procurement transparency and accountability in the sector. Special recognition was made to the Head of State, HE. Lazarus Chakwera, the CoST Malawi Champion, who was the first Head of State to become a CoST Champion. The President has not only been a Champion in words, but in action. Under his leadership, CoST Malawi has developed a new information platform, the Information Platform for Public Infrastructure in Malawi (IPPI) through which government has made a record performance in publishing data on 612 projects in one year, making Malawi the leading publisher of data in the CoST standard in Africa so far. The president has also made two proclamations to operationalize the disclosure requirements in the Procurement Regulations 2020, on 12th July 2022, at a groundbreaking ceremony of a major road project when he made an open directive requiring entities to publish data on the IPPI.
“The president has accorded CoST opportune times to listen to updates, discuss critical sector concerns and each time the MSG meets him, he is always informed ahead of time on issues regarding infrastructure transparency. He would refer to all submissions in CoST memos in his responses.” mentioned Joe Ching’ani, MSG Chairperson, CoST Malawi.
At the end of the keynote address, Prof. George Ofori, the former CoST Board Vice Chair, announced Mr. Joe Ching’ani as the first recipient of the CoST “Longstanding commitment award.”
“This award has come to me as a surprise. My success story has been a product of concerted efforts of all players…I owe this award to the Champion of CoST in Malawi, the President, HE Lazarus Chakwera who has demonstrated and inspired us to keep this agenda. CoST is the best thing that has ever happened in the infrastructure governance of Malawi.” Joe Ching’ani, Chairperson, MSG.
In a recent interview with Joe, he expressed his readiness to further his infrastructure transparency advocacy beyond borders. He noted that as he hands over the leadership of CoST Malawi, he remains committed to take forward the CoST agenda in any other capacity. CoST is not about witch-hunting, naming and shaming, it is about better practices in the sector.
The conference proceedings centered on sharing and taking stock of current best practices for construction excellence; adoption of resilient and inclusive strategies in infrastructure development; exploration of innovative ways of enhancing local production and uptake of construction materials; enhancing of skills development and capacity building in the industry; consideration of capacity building issues, quality and standardization for the industry; and consideration of ways of harnessing the formal and the informal sectors in the Construction Industry. The gathering further discussed the importance of embracing new technologies and methodologies to address the challenges of a rapidly evolving industry. The emphasis on quality-driven practices underscored the industry’s collective goal of not only meeting but exceeding industry standards, ensuring that every project is completed with the highest level of excellence.
Moving forward, CoST Malawi will be working on reconstituting their MSG appointing representatives from private sector, civil society and electing a Chairperson as Joe ends his tenure. The MSG will then embark on a long-term process of strategic planning on graduating the CoST Malawi programme institutionalizing it within existing systems, processes and capacities of government. CoST Malawi will be publishing its first Infrastructure Transparency Index in the coming months after progressively working with government to publish data on over 600 projects. The Index is anticipated to be used to push entities further to open infrastructure investments facilitating citizens action in scrutinizing the investments.