Missing data delays Admarc staff claims

Missing data on some former Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) staff has led to a further delay in the ex-workers’ claim for pension settlements, it has emerged.

Lawyer representing the Admarc ex-employees Leonard Mbulo said in an interview yesterday that the company was struggling to send pension forms to Old Mutual, the fund administrator.

“There have been challenges. Admarc cannot trace some of its former employees so their forms have not yet been sent to Old Mutual,” he said.

The fresh revelations follow the expiry of a 21-day window the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Mzuzu granted the two parties on December 21 2023 to settle the matter out of court.

During the previous hearing, IRC deputy chairperson Anthony Kapaswiche observed that there was enough time for the ex-workers and the defendant to discuss the matter and reach a new agreement towards payment of the funds.

He also shared the applicants’ position that Old Mutual should provide information on how much they were to get.

But Mbulo could not state the progress made towards the settlement with Old Mutual, saying he would revert with details later.

He said: “We will soon be reporting progress of the talks to the court. And, we are likely to ask the court for extension of time for us to resolve the dispute.”

Admarc spokesperson Agnes Ndovie asked for a questionnaire and had not yet responded by the time we went to press at 8pm yesterday.

She said: “Thanks for the questionnaire. I have forwarded the same to our legal office for their input and will get back to you once I have the information.”

In a WhatsApp response, lawyer for Old Mutual Davis Njobvu said: “We will issue a joint statement as parties since we have been negotiating on the matter.”

But spokesperson for the ex-workers Samuel Katambi expressed frustration with the handling of the issue.

He said they have tried to directly engage the Admarc management and board, who assured them things would be urgently resolved.

Katambi has since warned that they are planning to stage nationwide vigils at Admarc regional offices if the matter fails to come to a conclusion.

Before the IRC granted the 21 days window, the retrenched workers had sought an order to commit to prison Old Mutual Malawi plc group chief executive officer Edith Jiya and board chairperson Innocensia Ottober for alleged contempt of court. The two parties through their lawyers, however, agreed to discontinue the proceedings.

The ex-workers had sought the legal action following the expiry of a 14 day window that was earlier set by the court on November 28 2023 for Old Mutual to pay the ex-Admarc employees their pension.

During the previous hearing, Njobvu said there was an anomaly in the application to commit the two to prison because there is a specific company that deals with pension funds at Old Mutual.

On January 31 2023, government retrenched all Admarc staff and later embarked on a recruitment drive.