CSOs condemn proposal for ministerial pay hike

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country have trashed the proposal that perks for ministers and deputies be adjusted upwards, describing it as “immoral and selfish”.

Ministers and their deputies, through the office of the Acting Chief Secretary to Government, Willie Samute, on August 20 this year, drafted seven proposals to be amended, citing “several price adjustments of goods and services which have contributed to the dwindling of the value of almost all benefits and other official entitlements for ministers and deputy ministers”.

The proposals, which have since been rejected by President Peter Mutharika, include amendments on salaries, loan facility, housing rental entitlements, mobile phone airtime allowances, local travel, foreign travel allowances and hotel accommodation while awaiting permanent housing upon appointment.

Reacting to the proposal and the position made by the president, Civil Servants Trade Union (CSTU) president, Servace Sakala, said in an interview government must uphold “the gospel it preaches, otherwise there will be no convents”.

“This is playing double standards; we have been told that government cannot raise our salaries and you have the ministers asking for this much? Do they live in the same world we are living or they have their own world?

“Civil servants have been asking for salary increments needed to sustain their daily lives and we have been told that government has no money, so, to say the least, this is immoral,” Sakala said.

Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director, John Kapito, said there are bigger things that need to be sorted out than having proposals meant to satisfy selfish desires.

According to Kapito, government needs to sort out the fiscal indiscipline that has engulfed the system.

“The President must be commended for the bold step taken [to reject the proposals]; it shows maturity and I think this is what we expect him to do. He has not only demonstrated that his vision is for Malawians but also that he knows economic gaps that need to be filled. This is very welcome,” he said.

Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) executive director Dalitso Kubalasa said the ministers’ demands “are quite outrageous, considering the prevailing realities and the general public finance and macro-economic fundamentals in the country”.

Kubalasa said despite the justifications (for the proposal) holding true to some extent, the leadership would be sending a wrong message to the public.

“Thank God, the reaction from the President is rational, befitting the realities the economy is going through at the moment,” he said.