Graduate cops petition IG

In what can be described as a rare display of boldness, at least 53 graduate Malawi Police Service (MPS) officers have petitioned acting Inspector General (IG) Rodney Jose to clear inconsistencies in their salaries and ranks.

The aggrieved police officers, in the ranks of inspectors and below, want MPS management to normalise the discrepancies between their graded salaries and ranks and also to be paid salary arrears backdated to July 1 2017.

In a letter written through their lawyer Gift Nankhuni, the officers—who are holders of first and honours degrees from various universities—are querying their boss on why they still hold their junior ranks while receiving salaries of Grades I and H, respectively.

The officers said they joined MPS on different dates and their salaries were adjusted accordingly to match their qualifications.

“At all material times, our clients and other officers in a similar situation were being held as de facto superintendents and senior superintendents of police for those holding first and honours degrees, respectively.

“Ideally, therefore, the said other officers were promoted accordingly and they were made de jure superintendents and senior superintendents,” reads in part the letter signed by Nankhuni and copied to the Attorney General (AG).

The disgruntled officers said on July 1 last year 2017 MPS implemented the structural reform that initiated upward adjustment of salary grades by two steps, but to their surprise only their salary grades were not changed.

Noting the apparent omission, they said they wrote the office of the IG and various government departments, including Police Service Commission, Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Department of Human Resources Management and Development (DHRMD) and the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to voice out their concerns and seek a solution but were never assisted instead they got intimidations.

The officers argue that their “discriminatory treatment” is unconstitutional and unlawful and have instructed their lawyer to claim a uniform implementation of the structural reform so that their salaries should be adjusted two steps upwards to Grade G or will proceed with redress.

They are also demanding salary arrears, being the difference between the increased salaries and current salaries, from July 1 2017 at the rate of K57 885 per month in addition to MPS paying their lawyer.

“Unless the above claims are immediately met, our strict instructions are to commence legal proceedings against the Attorney General without further notice to yourself… the Attorney General is given notice of an impending suit should you not comply,” concludes the letter dated April 5 2018.

While confirming writing the police chief on behalf of the 53 officers, Nankhuni said in an interview on Wednesday he was yet to get any response from the IG since the letter was delivered some two weeks ago.

In a separate interview, Jose, appointed in the acting capacity two weeks ago, feigned ignorance saying: “Unfortunately, I have not received such a letter. It has not come to my office yet.”

Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Cecelia Chazama was not available for comment when contacted yesterday.

Police officers in the country rarely speak out against suspected cases of oppression by their superiors under the guise of discipline.