Civil servants union differs with IMF on bloated, resource draining govt

Officials from Civil Service Trade Union say the service is not as bloated as the IMF wants people to believe, saying it is smaller compared to others in the region.

Secretary General of the Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU) secretary general Madalitso Njolomole said the civil service is full of non established positions, political appointees who are on temporary work.

“We have many non established positions in government. Close to 45 per cent are on non established positions, they are on month to month job,” said Njolomole.

IMF was in the country for the last two weeks to assess the economic performance of Malawi.

Oral Williams, the IMF review team leader said the government spends 56 per cent of its revenue paying civil and public servants which he said is unacceptable.

He also said the government debt is fast rising and will soon reach unproportional levels which will collapse the already fragile economy.

Finance minister Goodall Gondwe agreed with the IMF team observations but said some issues were politically inspired.

Budget and Finance Committee of parliament chairman Rhino Chiphiko also agreed with the IMF team observations and said the situation has been worsened because of lack of openness and transparency in government.

“The government is very secretive. There is not even transparency on how the donor money is used to buy food for the country,” he said.

The IMF has painted a bleak and gloomy picture for Malawi with continued dwindling economy, high inflation rate, unstable kwacha against the dollar unless the government comes fast and swift to fix the problems to which Gondwe seems hopeless and helpless.