ACB staff defy call to resume work

Employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu yesterday refused to resume work while some of their colleagues in Lilongwe reported for work, but stayed idle.

ACB director-general Lucas Kondowe expressed surprise with the development, saying the agreement to return to work was made with staff representatives.

ACB staff are on strike aimed at forcing government to increase their salaries by 70 percent. This resulted into police sealing their offices on Tuesday a move Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Lexten Kachama described as for security reasons.

President Peter Mutharika later reversed the decision and Kondowe announced that the staff would return to work as discussion continued.

However, information from ACB offices in Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu indicated that the staff had not heeded the call to return to work.

“The strike is still on. We will seek court redress on salaries. We have not agreed with anyone to stop strike,” said one staff member at ACB offices in Blantyre. The situation was the same in Zomba and Mzuzu.

Asked on the way forward, Kondowe said he would meet the staff again to find out what the problem was.

However, staff at ACB headquarters in Lilongwe reportedly resumed work, according to ACB deputy director-general Reyneck Matemba.

But an employee at the headquarters said they were just idle awaiting resolution. The employee said authorities were pleading with staff to give them two weeks to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, government has withheld the salaries for ACB staff, according to an official from the graft-busting body.

“Yes, they have withheld the cheques. This is a problem because instead of focusing on the strike, we will now focus on the cheques,” said the official.

Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwe on Tuesdaywarned that those ACB staff that would not go back to work would not get their December salaries.

However, a labour law lecturer at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, Mauya Msuku, described the decision as illegal.