More trouble, ACB closed

Employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday lived up to their threat and staged a nationwide sit-in after rejecting a 10 percent government offer for their salary increment.

But, whereas the employees described the 10 percent increment as an insult, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe on Monday said in an interview the situation was unfortunate because ACB staff salaries are already among the highest in the public service.

The employees gave government a seven-day ultimatum from Monday last week to implement what is in their conditions of service or they would go on strike by December 8th.

The nearly 160 disgruntled ACB staff on Monday closed all offices of the graft-busting body in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba and threatened not to open until their issue is resolved.

They claim that their employers—ACB and government—breached their contract by failing to enforce the terms and conditions of service as stipulated therein and wanted their salaries to be raised by 75 percent.

In Blantyre, scores of employees gathered outside ACB offices and were seen chatting outside the sealed main entrance decorated with dissenting posters all over.

One poster pasted on the main entrance read ‘Closed until further notice’ while the other glued on the ACB signboard read ‘Harmonisation is not applicable to our contracts’. Another striking poster had these words: ‘No cash. No Cashgate cases’.

Victor Chiwala, chairperson of the striking staff in Blantyre, said the staff were only enforcing the terms and conditions as set in their employment contracts.

He said: “Government has an obligation to implement what is stated in our contracts which is very clear. We are not demanding anything outside our terms and conditions of service.”

In Lilongwe, ACB staff poured out of their office building and stayed outside playing football and board games as they waited to hear from management on feedback from Capital Hill.

From the placards on display, ACB staff are clearly against harmonisation of salaries in the public service. For example, one placard pasted at the entrance to the ACB head office read ‘There is no law in Malawi concerning harmonisation’ and ‘To hell with your harmonisation, my contract must be honoured’.

Spokesperson of the staff committee in Lilongwe, Henry Ngwira, said there had been no response from ACB management and Chief Secretary so they opted to go ahead with the sit-in.

ACB deputy director Reyneck Matemba said talks were underway with the government regarding the implementation of the terms and conditions of service for members of staff for judiciary.

Matemba, alongside the bureau’s accountant and human resource manager, were yesterday locked in meetings with the Chief Secretary to the Government George Mkondiwa to find a way forward on the strike.

Said Matemba: “Both government and the bureau are committed to seeing that the talks succeed and therefore we in the bureau are very optimistic that together we will find a lasting solution to this and move forward as a country.”

Reacting to the ACB strike, Gondwe said the situation was regrettable.

Said the minister: “It is regrettable because their salaries are already the highest so far in the public service and on top of that we gave them an extra 10 percent and I am surprised that they have decided to act that way.”

Gondwe said government, through responsible officers, would engage the employees in negotiations because “we would like if an understanding could be made so that we continue offering services to the nation.”

According to the employees, Article 01.09.2 of ACB’s Staff Terms and Conditions of Service provides that their salaries shall be revised by the bureau anytime there is (a) a raise in the civil service salaries and (b) an increase in the cost of living.

Further, Article 01.09.3 provides that in the case of devaluation, the salaries will be adjusted to maintain their current value and in the case of raise of salaries in the civil service, the bureau’s salaries will be adjusted to a percentage more than the civil service rate in order to keep them competitive.

However, the workers argue that since the civil service salaries were raised (effective October 1, 2014) and there has been an increase in the cost of living, the director general breached the aforementioned articles by failing to raise their salaries.

But in its memo Ref. No. PSM/GOP/10 dated December 3 2014 and signed by Sam Madula, Secretary for Human Resource Management and Development, government offered the staff 10 percent which they turned down.

The ACB strike has exerted more pressure on central government currently yet to resolve a five-week Judiciary support staff strike that has paralysed the country’s justice delivery system, congesting prisons as suspects cannot get court bail.

National Assembly secretariat staff also demanded a pay rise.

However, government is on record as having said that there is no money to meet the demands and that authorities were working on harmonising packages in the mainstream civil service with those in other public service institutions such as Judiciary, Parliament and ACB.

Ironically, at the weekend, our sister newspaper, Weekend Nation published a story revealing that the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) had effected an 80 percent salary increment for President Peter Mutharika and Vice-President Saulos Chilima plus 168 percent hike for Leader of Opposition in Parliament Lazarus Chakwera and Cabinet ministers. Members of Parliament have also been given a 376 percent pay rise.

The adjustments were effected on October 1 2014, according to the leaked memo.

OPC has since explained that the President and his deputy have deferred implementation of their pay rise until the economic situation improves. However, the statement did not indicate whether the two would get arrears when things improve.