Many not paid gratuity by Malawi govt two years after leaving office

Government has not paid gratuity to many people who worked under the Joyce Banda administration on contract almost two years after leaving office.

The development contradicts Finance and Economic Planning Development Minister Goodall Gondwe’s promise to the nation soon after he presented the 2015/16 budget that government would pay gratuities to all former employees under the previous government.

One former employee who asked not to be named for fear of further delaying his payment said to the best of his knowledge, only a few people were paid their gratuities.

The former employee said there seems to be a deliberate move to punish the former employees for their association with Joyce Banda whose relationship with the Peter Mutharika administration is sour.

Banda left the country in September in 2014 four months after losing the elections fearing for her security.

Said the former employee:  “They keep telling you one document is missing on your file. When the document is made available they will come up with another excuse, and you wonder whether the aim is just to frustrate you or something else.”

“My only concern is that the Kwacha is losing value with each passing day and we deserve to be paid the money,” said the former employee.

“We are only asking for what we are entitled to. If government does not see this [paying us] as important then they should tell us so. But it is wrong to punish us simply because we worked in the former administration.”

The former employee, however, was grateful “to some friends in various government departments” who have been very helpful to put together some documents but somehow can’t push the files through to the last office to make out the cheques.

Another former employee said a few months ago he physically moved the file from one office to another to expedite payment but in one office he was told the officer responsible to process a certain document was on leave and was asked to come the following week.

‘‘It is so frustrating,’’ complained the former employee.

Several offices are involved in processing gratuities for former State House employees including State House, Office of the President and Cabinet, Auditor General and Accountant General.

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