The Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU) and the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) have condemned their members who have resorted to dancing at presidential functions during working hours.
The call comes weeks after some women in the civil service were seen dancing for President Peter Mutharika despite the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) in a 2012 memo discouraging the practice.
Speaking in an interview, TUM secretary general Denis Kalekeni asked female teachers not to abandon classes to dance at presidential functions.
“This tendency interrupts the learning process in schools. If teachers want to dance [for the President] they can do so during weekend and public holidays,” said Kalekeni.
CSTU secretary general Madalitso Njolomole said female civil servants who are involved in the malpractice are doing so without the blessings of the organisation.
“CSTU is condemning the practice and we are asking those civil servants that would like to dance at political rallies to find their own time and not during working days,” he said.
Njolomole added that Mutharika in his maiden State of the Nation Address made it clear that he wants a professional and vibrant civil service, hence the need for civil servants to stick to work ethics.
“In his address, the President said it is regrettable that recently there has been laxity and indiscipline in civil service by few individuals,” he argued.
When the President went to Parliament deliver his maiden State of the Nation Address, several female civil servants, calling themselves Amayi a M’boma, performed outside the building.
In May 2012, the then Chief Secretary to Government Bright Msaka directed that civil servants should stop dancing at presidential functions during weekdays.
