House wants Chief Justice house allowance fixed at K2 million
Parliament through a report of the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) has fixed the Chief Justice’s house allowance at K2 million.
The decision has been made to help calculate house allowances for retired Chief Justices.
PAC chairperson Joyce Chitsulo, who presented the report, said the committee recommended that the house allowance for the Chief Justice be fixed at K2 million after the Solicitor General wrote the committee requesting for clarity on the applicable rate for housing allowance for a retired Chief Justice.
She said: “The terms and conditions of service for judicial officers provides that upon retirement a Chief Justice shall be entitled to a housing allowance calculated as a percentage of the rate of housing allowance for an incumbent Chief Justice.
“However the terms and conditions do not provide a rate of the housing allowance for an incumbent Chief Justice, instead the Chief Justice is entitled to a government house.”
PAC also recommended that recently developed terminal benefits for retired Chief Justices should apply to all retired Chief Justices.
This will enable all chief justices receive the House allowance as currently the conditions of service apply to the recently retired Chief Justice.
“The committee observed that terminal benefits for retired Chief Justices were developed recently as such the benefits have not been extended to all the retired Chief Justices,” said Chitsulo.
She called on the MPs to adopt the report and the house has adopted the report.
In an interview, Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament chairperson Albert Mbawala hailed PAC for fixing the house allowance for Chief Justice at K2 million, saying it will help the retired Chief Justices access their house allowances.
He added that extending the terminal benefits to all Chief Justices will help motivate.
“We are happy with what has happened. They are motivating the Judiciary. When somebody is motivated he delivers well. We are thankful to the house for adopting the recommendation of the Public Appointments Committee,” said Mbawala.
Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo could not grant an interview, saying he was not in the House when the report was adopted and that he was not aware of the contents of the report.
