UNIMA IN MASSIVE RETRENCHMENT

The University of Malawi (UNIMA) has since Friday last week embarked on a massive retrenchment drive among non-academic staff Nyasa Times can reveal.

The exercise is aimed at boosting the salaries of its academic staff who have been at loggerheads with government since 2005. The contestations climaxed last year when lecturers at Chancellor College and Polytechnic downed their tools demanding a 200 per cent pay hike which government rejected.

Sources at Chancellor College confided to Nyasa Times that the retrenchment exercise follows a job evaluation led by consultants and is underway in all constituencies of the university; Chancellor College, Polytechnic, Kamuzu College of Nursing, Bunda College and the College of Medicine.

According to sources, though the exercise has started with non-academic staff, the academicians will also be mercilessly trimmed in order to remain with a small, efficient and highly paid intellectual community.

"It is true that there is an exhaustive retrenchment underway in the whole university. It is being done on both academic and non-academic staff. Last Thursday, the college wrote over 50 support staff who are on retrenchment to notify them so they process and access their benefits," one source said.

Other sources said good number of lecturers in the faculties of education, humanities and science will also face the chop because they are overstaffed.

"Some faculties such as of education, humanities and science have too many lecturers. The college administration has planned to combine the departments which can share tutorial duties," he said.

Three workers from the cafeteria and library who received notification of letters for retrenchment and showed the letters to Nyasa Times cried foul on the untransparent manner the college is identifying the staff to be relived of duties.

"It is the principal and the registrar who are deciding who should leave. In such cases, nepotism creeps in and the colleges may end up remaining with inefficient workers," the worker on exit claimed.

UNIMA has faced several industrial actions in Mutharika's rule because of low perks despite significant increases in the annual allocation statistically.

In last years budget, the varsity was given 4 billion out of a 170 billion budget yet its most senior academic at the grade of professor carts home with less than MK 200 000.

The low perks are said to be ten times lower than their counterparts in other public SADC varsities, are blamed on the overstaffing, and lack of fiscal discipline.