Parliament staff reject 18% pay hike offer

Parliament Secretariat staff yesterday disrupted business on the second day of the Mid-Term Budget Review meeting when they staged a strike after rejecting an 18 percent salary increase offer.

The Parliament staff heckled Cabinet ministers as they entered the premises with placards. Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe left Parliament Building with the National Flag on his vehicle removed.

The staff went ahead to down tools even after Treasury came in late on Monday with an offer of 18 percent, which is above the five percent offered in November 2014.

A member of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) Ralph Jooma, who is member of Parliament (MP) for Mangochi Monkey Bay Constituency, said yesterday morning that the Treasury offer came when Parliament staff had knocked off under instructions from their union leaders to commence the strike at 7.30am.

But when MPs started showing up for the day’s business after 9am, they were greeted by the sight of Parliament staff clad in red clothes sitting around the courtyard and some playing football.

Some MPs entered the Parliament Building, but were barred from entering the chamber.

After being denied entry into the building, chairperson of the taxpayer-funded Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) Sophie Kalinde and her executive secretary Grace Malera chatted briefly with Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Samuel Tembenu, who was expected to present the commission’s annual report yesterday. They later boarded their vehicles and left Parliament premises.

Among business lined up for yesterday was the Skills Development Project Loan Authorisation Bill and a report from the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament on the Reserve Bank of Malawi (Amendment) Bill, both carried over from the previous meeting of Parliament.

If the strike continues, it will disrupt the confirmation of Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General-designate Paul Kanyama, debate on the Cashgate report and the Mid-Term Budget Review Statement which Gondwe is expected to present on Friday.

As it stands, Parliament cannot convene without clerks and other support staff who render services to the MPs as they conduct their meetings.

Parliament Staff Union president Leonard Tilingamawa said the staff would continue with the strike until government meets their demands.

“We will hold a strike for as long as it takes. Members will not deliberate their business until we get what we deserve,” he said.

Tilingamawa said Treasury should implement the 24 percent salary increment as the PSC, which has mandate to make such decisions, resolved.

“Section 20 of the Parliamentary Service Act gives powers to the commission to determine salaries for Parliament staff and once that is done, no one can change it,” he said.

Speaker of Parliament Richard Msowoya urged the Executive to quickly resolve the strike to avoid derailing the proceedings.

“This will greatly affect the agenda and may prolong the sitting, but we are doing everything to put the strike to an end,” he said.

From November last year to early January, the Executive was also engaged in a face-off with one of the arms of government, the Judiciary, following a support staff strike that paralysed the country’s justice delivery system, denying access to justice to hundreds.

Government reasoned with the Judiciary support staff to return to work while it worked on their issues. However, last week the Judiciary support staff threatened to resume their strike owing to silence on the part of government.

Public servants under the Judiciary and the Legislature as well as other governance institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have been pushing for a pay increment after government increased salaries for their colleagues in the mainstream civil service.

Government has argued that it wants to harmonise perks in the public service; hence, the raise in the mainstream civil service.