Police, others to get pay late
Treasury says Malawi Police Service (MPS) and local government councils are among government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) set to get their August 2017 salaries later due to late submission of relevant documentation.
In a statement published this week, Secretary to the Treasury (ST) Ben Botolo said out of the country’s 35 councils, only Likoma District Council submitted within the deadline of the fifth of the month and will get pay as normal.
Parliament and Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining are the other MDAs to be affected by the delayed payment of salaries, according to the statement.
In an interview yesterday, Botolo said MDAs are required to submit Government Paper No. 5 (GPA5) to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development by the fifth day of the month to facilitate processing of salaries. He said the affected MDAs failed to meet the deadline.
In the circumstances, Botolo said, Treasury decided to only punish those that missed the deadline and pay those who complied.
He said: “It is our mandate that all departments should submit their GP5A on 5th of every month and on the 16th [of the month] is when money uploading starts.
“All departmental controlling officers are aware that our deadline for receiving these documents is on the fifth. It is a very long process and it’s not easy to run a payroll of over 166 000 people.”
He indicated that the MDAs affected by the delayed processing of salaries might get their August salaries not later than September 16 depending on the submission dates of the delayed paperwork.
The ST appealed to controlling officers to comply with GP5A submission deadline to avoid inconveniencing workers in their MDAs.
MPS national spokesperson James Kadadzera said he was not aware that the law enforcers’ salaries will be delayed.
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development spokesperson Muhlabase Mughogho asked for more time to get details. But when called later, her phone constantly gave a busy tone.
However, sources at Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said the delayed submission of the forms was prompted by the addition of 10 500 primary school teachers to councils. Under the decentralisation programme, teachers are paid through local government councils.
In January this year, council employees alongside those working in Health, Education and Agriculture sectors also got their salaries late due to what Treasury described as technicalities associated with new payroll processing systems for the council employees.
In July, salaries for health workers were also delayed following changes that were made in the salary increment and top-up allowances for health workers. n
