While Minister of Labour Vitumbiko Mumba has led the crusade of spotting industrial specks in private sector’s eyes, he has either ignored or missed the logs in government’s eyes that his own officials have exposed in a letter protesting working conditions.
In their demand letter to Ministry of Labour Principal Secretary (PS) dated February 18 2025, concerned labour officers said their efforts to have their grievances regarding working conditions addressed internally have yielded nothing since first raising them in 2021.
The workers have since threatened to take action if the ministry continued to ignore their grievances, adding that as labour officers they cannot be checking working conditions of others while they too were victims of exploitation.
Reads the letter in part: “It is our hope that our concerns will be addressed within 21 days. Enough is enough. We cannot be checking the working conditions of others while we are the victims of exploitation. Decent work for all.”
In an interview yesterday, Ministry of Labour PS Chikondano Mussa confirmed that the ministry has received the letter from the labour officers and was working on their grievances.
However, she dismissed suggestions that the ministry is playing double standards by going after employers suspected of violating labour laws in the private sector while labour officers under the ministry are complaining of exploitation.
“We are working on a functional review. The functional review that was done needed to be revised. Some positions need to be upgraded, so we are coming up with positions that will motivate the officers,” said Mussa.
Meanwhile, Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam) executive director George Khaki declined to comment on whether government was playing double standards in the enforcement of labour laws.
But he said the Ministry of Labour was an employer and the same laws need to apply across the board.
Said Khaki: “Employees in the Ministry of Labour are at liberty to air out concerns. If they have come out on this, it means there is something that the ministry and government needs to address.”
He added that the law mandates the Minister of Labour to inspect work places and, as employers, they have no objections.
On the other hand, health rights advocate Maziko Matemba said while it was good that the Minister of Labour started doing inspections, safety and hygiene standards should equally be enforced in the public sector.
On his part, Malawi Congress of Trade Union (MCTU) president Charles Kumchenga said while the union was yet to be communicated on the issues being raised by the labour officers, it had seen their letter on social media.
He said the labour officers have the right to complain if there are issues that are not being resolved and called on the ministry to look into the grievances.
National Advocacy Platform (NAP) chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said the labour laws also need to apply to caregivers in early childhood development facilities. He lamented that the caregivers are being exploited.
“Minimum wage is there to ensure protection of workers. Caregivers equally need protection. Receiving K20 000 is exploitation, considering they work for all the five working days in a week,” he said.
On why the ministry was penalising companies for poor labour conditions when caregivers under government payroll are receiving K20 000, Labour PS Mussa said her ministry had not received any concern on that.
The Nation spot checks yesterday established that safety, sanitation and hygiene in some public institutions, including markets and hospitals were falling short and inadequate for people operating in those spaces.
At Blantyre Market, about 400 vendors plying their trade scramble for about 12 toilets, forcing some to relieve themselves along the Mudi River, which is about 50 metres from the market.
In an interview yesterday, one of the vendors Misheck Banda bemoaned the poor hygiene at the market, saying the number of toilets do not match the number of vendors using them.
He said: “Besides that the toilets are few, the intermittent water supply here also forces some vendors to relieve themselves along the Mudi River. The situation is very appalling.”
The World Health Organisation recommends that 25 people should have access to one latrine in public places.
