High wage bill affects Karonga council

Karonga District Council says inadequate revenue is contributing to delayed payment of salaries to its staff in recent months.

The council says it will continue facing the challenge unless it implements measures to control the wage bill.

Ironically, district council junior workers conducted a sit in demonstration few months ago against district commissioner (DC) Rosemary Moyo accusing her administration of failing to pay them in time, a development that nearly triggered her transfer.

Speaking during a full council meeting on Wednesday, chairperson for the finance committee, Ernest Mwalughali, said currently, locally generated revenue for the council is at around K10 million ($17,399.9) per month, an amount that does not meet all its expenditures, including wages and operational bills.

Said Mwalughali: ‘‘Out of the collected revenue, we are supposed to use 40 percent for wages, but the council has too many employees. Over 70 percent of the collections go to salaries.

‘‘As a finance committee, we have, therefore, suggested that the wage bill be reduced by among others trimming some of the employees and installing prepaid electricity meters in all our markets so that vendors pay on their own.’’

However, Karonga District Council human resources officer Tamika Milimbo warned the council against reducing its workforce, saying the measure would cost the council a lot of money through compensations.

Milimbo, hence, asked the council to seek other ways of boosting revenue collection. n