President Peter Mutharika has warned that his government will deal with his political detractors within and outside Malawi who are allegedly fuelling the current spate of strikes for higher salaries.
The President has since declared that the huge and haphazard salary demands by the strikers will not be granted.
The warning was part of his year-end State-of-the-Nation feed from Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe that was beamed on radio and television stations on Saturday night.
The address came in the face of expressed fury and criticism by some politicians, political commentators, civil servants and ordinary Malawians over Mutharika’s silence at a time when they wished to hear and see him guiding the nation on how to resolve a number of socio-economic challenges dogging Malawians.
In the past month, Malawi has been increasingly paralysed by a spate of strikes —whereby workers are demanding higher pay—in the civil service, the Judiciary and several other key public service delivery institutions, including the crime-busting Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
In his speech Mutharika stressed that ill-meaning politicians in Malawi and outside the country were fuelling the on-going strikes. Although he referred to the allegation on at least two occasions during his speech, he did not mention names.
The President said his government is bent on harmonising salaries between the civil service and other public institutions, which had enjoyed higher salaries. n