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| National |
| Bingu to review civil service perks |
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by
Gedion Munthali, 20 October 2004
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19:37:44
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President Bingu wa Mutharika, who is minister of the civil service, has accepted to address and rectify some concerns put to him Wednesday by the civil servants trade union (CSTU) as anomalies in the recently implemented salary restructuring.
CSTU President Thomas Banda said Wednesday in an interview after their afternoon meeting with Mutharika at his Lilongwe State Lodge that the President received their concerns positively and assured all civil servants to take heart.
Banda said Mutharika agreed to their proposal that the pay as you earn ceiling be moved up from the current K3,000 to K5,000.
“This means that civil servants who receive salaries that are below K5,000 must not be taxed,” said Banda.
He added that the President also promised to look at some of the allowances selected cadres of the civil service used to receive which his government abolished recently.
“These are things like chalk allowance for teachers,” said Banda disclosing that Mutharika said the minister of Finance would work out modalities on how best the issue could be addressed to the satisfaction of the concerned parties.
Another sticky issue raised to Mutharika, according to Banda, concerned the salary disparities between permanent secretaries and members of Parliament.
“What we are saying is that it is unfair, under the new salary structure, that a permanent secretary should be receiving a lower salary than a member of Parliament.
“You see some principal secretaries are PHD holders while others are graduates, how can they receive lower salaries than MPs who are just voted in and some are standard 8 or JC holders?” questioned Banda.
Mutharika, according to Banda, also promised to look at gaps that exist in some grades of the civil service.
Banda said the gap between P5 and P4 of K50,000; between Senior Clerical Officer and Executive Officer of K6,000, among them, were too big.
“These gaps need to be addressed, and the President has assured us that a technical committee will have to look at them.
Banda also said the President agreed to the union’s proposal that the entry point of Junior Certificate holders be different from those that hold a Malawi Schools Certificate of Education.
The meeting also agreed to change rules that govern institutional houses.
“We are saying that those who occupy such houses be recommended to buy if they want,” said Banda.
Meanwhile Mutharika’s meeting with the Public Affairs Committee (Pac) which was scheduled for Wednesday has been carried forward to Friday at 10 AM.
According to Pac’s head of programmes Robert Phiri, the change of programme was last minute. |
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