Govt readmits interns this week

Government will on Wednesday start readmitting graduate interns who have been pushing government to take them on board after their last contract expired in June.

The first exercise will run from August 19 to 20, targeting interns working in Lilongwe.

In an interview yesterday, chairperson for the graduate interns Gerald Masebo confirmed that government has invited the interns to the registration process on August 19 following their protest against the decision to postpone their admission from August 3 2020 to October 1  2020.

He said: “From the meeting we had last time, they said it was hard to do admissions in August but we had to reach a compromise. So, the exercise will start on August 19 with Lilongwe. Other districts will follow.”

Masebo said the registration will be done in phases, starting with those in Lilongwe which has the highest number of interns.

The interns are still waiting for government to review their monthly payments. Ministry of Labour promised to engage Ministry of Finance to consider increasing their perks.

Ministry of Labour spokesperson Christina Mkutumula did not pick calls when called for comment.

In the provisional budget presented by Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu early July, government allocated money for the internship programme but the initiative has not been running for the past two months.

The interns threatened to hold demonstrations if government did not address their concerns.