Civil servants will have to wait a little bit longer to receive their salaries, government has announced.
In a press statement dated November 27 2014 signed by secretary to the Treasury Ronald Mangani, the delay follows “incomplete and inaccurate data arising from processing errors.”
“The Government of Malawi highly values the role that civil servants play in the delivery of public services in the country. The government is, therefore, committed to ensuring that all civil servants are well motivated, well-trained and well remunerated, and that their pay is timely.
“Recently, government restructured salaries of all civil servants effective October 2014, in order to make them competitive. Despite these positive steps in public service reforms, the delayed payments of salaries, especially for teachers, remains a regrettable challenge,” he said.
According to Mangani, the salary processing cycle is vast such that any technical error largely affects the whole chain.
“You see, speed and connectivity challenges associated with the current state of the software operating the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) also plays a great deal. At times, both Malswitch and the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) also experience consequential technical challenges in the timely transmission of the data. Moreover, when any of the systems in the cycle fail, data has to be transferred manually from one system to another, a process that is time consuming. All these challenges are at the centre of the delays experienced in the payment of civil servants’ salaries. Nonetheless government sincerely regrets the delays experienced in paying salaries to some civil servants,” he said.
Weeks ago some primary school teachers in the Southern Region abandoned classes due to delayed teachers’ salaries, forcing pupils to go into the streets.
Judiciary support staff are also on strike, demanding a salary increase.
