Committee for remuneration board
Parliament’s Public Appointments and Declaration of Assets Committee has called for the speedy set up of a Public Service Remuneration Board to look into the conditions of service and salaries of the public sector across the board.
Committee chairperson Nick Masebo said this on Monday in an interview against the background of the committee’s failure to make a final decision on demands by the judiciary for a better retirement package and improved perks.
The committee failed to extend the meeting due to lack of funding.
Said Masebo about the proposed board: “Without this board, there is a challenge of having civil servants with same qualifications getting different perks and this raises a further challenge when there is need for one to be transferred to another department.”
He also said the committee noted that delays in enacting a declaration of assets law for the public service was another challenge, especially in the operations of the committee.
And in their demands, the judges’ demands include entitlements to at least two vehicles, one of which should be a Mercedes Benz—a vehicle that government has just taken off its Cabinet ministers’ perks and replaced with a Toyota Landcruiser Prado TX, fuel allocation to be hiked by an average of 120 percent, settlement allowance to increase by 1 500 percent and furniture allowances to swell by 60 percent.
The judiciary also wants the Chief Justice to have a retirement package equivalent to that of State Vice-President, among other demands.
Last week, the committee met the Judiciary, the Malawi Public Service Management Commission, ministries of Finance and Justice and Constitutional Affairs officials to discuss the demands.
