Former PTC employees petition Parliament
Former employees of People’s Trading Centre (PTC) Limited, the defunct retail chain owned by conglomerate Press Corporation plc, have petitioned Parliament to help them claim K1.6 billion from the sale of the company.
The claim includes six months’ salary arrears, repatriation package and compensation after the company was liquidated.
The former employees, 615 in total, say they are suffering as they have waited for their money for over a year.
Presenting the petition at Parliament Building in Lilongwe yesterday, the former employees chairperson Moses Banda said they have waited in vain for their money and were now banking on members of Parliament to claim their K1.6 billion.
He said the court made a ruling that once the company’s assets have been sold they should be paid their money but that has not happened.
Said Banda: “The value of the money is being affected by devaluation because it has been over a year now since the company was sold.
“We will get less value than we could have received last year. The sad part is we are struggling financially but nothing is being done.”
In the petition, the aggrieved employees observe that the official liquidator, the Registrar General, has disposed of assets of PTC.
Reads the petition: “We are, therefore, requesting the honourable House to intervene so that the money that has been realised can be paid immediately.
“The former members of PTC staff are suffering in silence as they wait for their money for more than one year.”
They also allege that the money realised from the sale of assets is not enough to cover their package and they have since asked Parliament to intervene so that Press Corporation plc should meet the balance.
Zomba Malosa legislator Grace Kwelepeta, who received the petition on behalf of Parliament, said the MPs are concerned with problems that the former employees are going through.
She said the petition will be delivered to the proper authorities and it was her hope that the august House will discuss the issue.
Registered in 1973, PTC was the first retail chain store to operate in Malawi. In 2016, PTC closed 20 of its 85 shops nationwide due to poor performance before unveiling an opportunity to local entrepreneurs to operate the closed shops.
