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Malawi judges, magistrates get 22% pay hike

–Judiciary to continue discussing with Executive
Relief on the part of the Executive should be the reaction after judges and magistrates accepted a 22 percent salary increment offer they had initially rejected three months ago.
The development comes barely a week after magistrates across the country petitioned President Peter Mutharika and gave him a seven-day ultimatum to address the issue of their poor remuneration and benefits. It took the intervention of Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda to stop an indefinite closure of the courts nationwide.
The judicial officers rejected the offer in February and took the matter to Parliament for intervention. They also warned that if nothing materialised, they would sue individual government officers involved in the negotiations.

Judiciary support staff during their recent strike
Judiciary support staff during their recent strike
In an interview yesterday, Judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula confirmed that judges and magistrates have finally accepted the offer, but was quick to state that negotiations were still going on.
He said: “We have indeed accepted government’s offer of an average of 22 percent [pay hike], which we initially turned down. However, this does not mean the end of our negotiations, we will continue discussing until the Executive addresses our demands.”
Mvula added that the increment was effective October 1 2014 and the officers would receive seven months arrears alongside their new salary structure this month.
Initially, the Judiciary wanted a 110 percent rise in packages for Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judges, 78 percent increase for High Court of Malawi judges and registrars, among other categories.
However, paragraph 42 (2) of their Conditions of Service stipulates that “whenever there is a general increase in salaries and allowances in the civil service, the salaries and allowances for judicial officers shall correspondingly be increased.”
But in October last year, government only offered an average of 45 percent salary increment for the mainstream civil service.
The Judiciary has 34 judges, 11 of which are for the Supreme Court while 23 are for the High Court. It also has about 280 magistrates of which only 17 are professionals while the rest are lay magistrates.
In addition to the pay hike demand, the judges also wanted replacement of their official vehicles which clocked 150 000 kilometres (km) or four years and housing allowances as stipulated in their Lordships’ Terms and Conditions of Service.
While government initially indicated it had no money to purchase new vehicles for the judges, sources within the system confided in The Nation that Treasury resolved the matter by releasing K500 million as an interim measure.
Mvula also said there was good progress on discussions with Parliament which determined the Judiciary perks.
He said: “This means the issues which were raised by the judicial officers such as housing allowances, motor vehicles and now the salary increment have been addressed. But discussions will not stop until we get reasonable percentage not the 22 percent we have been offered now.”
Before judges and magistrates demands were presented to government, Judiciary support staff went on a seven-week strike demanding salary increment.
For nearly two months, between November and December last year, the courts were not operating, thereby paralysing the country’s justice delivery system.
The stand-off ended early January after government and the aggrieved workers agreed to resolve the matter without freezing the rule of law.
In the current financial year, government has been under pressure from both mainstream civil servants and staff from public universities, Parliament Secretariat and the Judiciary to revise their perks.
The mainstream civil servants’ 45 percent pay raise raised the wage bill by K10 billion (US$23 255 814) and sparked reciprocal demands from Parliament Secretariat, the Judiciary and University of Malawi (Unima) support staff.
Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe boldly said Treasury had no money to meet the demands in full.

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