Malawi’s former ambassador to the United States, Hawa Olga Ndilowe, is now Deputy Secretary to the Office of President and Cabinet in Malawi.

In her new position appointed by Pres Joyce Banda, she is responsible for modernizing IT services for the Malawi government.

Hawa comes to this position with a strong educational and administrative background. After graduating with a BA in Social Science with concentrations in Economics & Mathematics from Chancellor College, Univesity of Malawi, she obtained a Master’s degree in Information Systems from the London School of Economics and worked as an Information Systems Analyst in Malawi and later as a Permanent Secretary in the Public Service.

In 2006, she was named ambassador to the United States. Malawians gave Ambassador Ndilowe kudos for bringing openness to the position. As an active participant in the Malawian community in the US, Ndilowe visited Malawians in other states, explaining her role and what Malawians could do to help boost the image of the country with the aim of attracting investments.

In her new position, Hawa, who has been in the civil service since 1981, has her work cut out for her.

According to the CIA fact book, Malawi has less than 15% of its population of close to 15 million accessing the Internet on daily basis. Senior government officials still conduct official business on public emails such as Yahoo or Gmail. Government websites hardly provide useful information. Websites have nonfunctional email addresses and emails bounce or go unanswered, all this happening in 2012.
---
©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment.