Public service pay disparities worry PAC

Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament has conceded that it is getting pressure from some public institutions under its mandate asking for a pay rise to be at par with others of similar nature.

Reacting to a story The Nation published last Thursday detailing disparities in remuneration in the public service both for employees on same grades and institutions of same category, PAC chairperson Joyce Chitsulo said so far they have registered complaints from the Malawi Law Commission, Malawi Legal Aid Bureau and Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) who want their perks to match those for the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB).

She said her committee engaged the Department of Human Resource Management and Development to appreciate the differences and from the presentation, they noticed that there indeed were huge differences.

Said Chitsulo: “We are working to harmonise the remuneration. Of course, we will also have to consider the nature of work someone does so it may not necessary be that they will all be getting the same, but at least we will aim at having a fair balance.”

The department’s comparative analysis of current salaries for the Law Commission against similar institution, made to PAC showed that the Legal Aid Bureau, Law Commission and MHRC are lowly paid compared to ACB and Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).

A comparison of salaries for controlling officers shows that MEC and ACB are entitled to a maximum monthly pay of K4.3 million and K3.7 million, respectively, but MHRC is at K3.2 million while the Law Commission and Legal Aid Bureau are pegged K2.4 million maximum, below the average put at K3.2 million.

The quoted figures are different from what is captured in the programme-based budget document number five which shows that the ACB director general has an estimated monthly wage of K2.9 million.

There has been no official response from government on the issue, but an official from Treasury, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some individuals negotiate for salaries, but the same is not captured in the budget documents.

Said the source: “I know the ACB director general’s contract was negotiated. She was the Ombudsman where apart from salary there is an honorarium given for the Ombudsman’s role as MHRC commissioner.

“So, that was taken into consideration in the negotiation. What is in the budget document is what is allocated to that position, meaning someone in that position may not have the same contract the current one has.”

The department’s presentation further shows that a chief officer for the ACB gets around K1.7 million, but an officer of the same level at Law Commission is entitled to K1.3 million per month. The presentation further shows that the lowest paid employee at ACB, office assistant, gets about K300 000 compared to K180 000 for the same position at the Legal Aid Bureau.

Chitsulo said their exercise aims at bringing sanity in the wage structure of these institutions.