Judges, magistrates granted their wishes
Parliament has approved revised conditions of service for judicial officers, notably judges and magistrates, which include an upward adjustment in salary of up to 41 percent.
In their lobby, the judicial officers also pushed for a review of non-practising and fuel allowances.
The magistrates also wanted inclusion of a clause in the conditions of service that accorded them a benefit to import duty-free motor vehicles in every five years.
Parliament approved the salary increment ranging from 21 to 41 percent and inclusion of the requested clause to enable magistrates import duty-free motor vehicles as judges do.
In an interview yesterday, Association of Magistrates in Malawi (AMA) president Kondani Chinangwa said despite Parliament not approving all their needs, the magistrates are happy with the condition of service review.
“It’s not everything that has been approved, but since we are discussing, the judicial officers are okay for now with a hope that all conditions will be approved as stipulated by the constitution of the Republic [of Malawi],” he said.
However, Parliament rejected some of the judicial requests such as upward adjustments of non-practising allowance from K500 000 per month and fuel allowance from 200 litres per month to about 1 200 litres per month.
Magistrates and Judges Association of Malawi (Majam) president Jack N’riva yesterday asked for more time before commenting on the matter. However, by press time at 8pm he had not yet reverted to The Nation.
The approved judicial officers’ conditions of service come about two weeks after Majam and AMA threatened to take an industrial action if their issues were not taken to parliament in the current meeting.
Commenting on the matter in separate interviews, Youth and Society executive director Charles Kajoloweka and governance scholar at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Andrew Kaponya, commended Parliament for approving some of the judicial officers’ proposals saying it is a motivation to them.
However, both Kanjoloweka and Kaponya observed that those benefiting from the duty free vehicles scheme are high income earners who can afford to import vehicles with duty.
Section 44 (1) of Judiciary Conditions of Service states that they “shall be reviewed every three years from the date of commencement in accordance with Section 114 (2) of the Constitution and to be approved by a select committee of the National Assembly”.
On the other hand, Section 114 (2) of the Constitution provides that “the salary and any allowance of a holder of judicial office shall not, without his or her consent, be reduced during his or her period of office and shall be increased at intervals so as to retain its original value and shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Fund”.
Last month, government also implemented a 40 percent salary increase for Judiciary support staff from April 1 2024, pushing up the arm’s wage bill by K2.6 billion.
