Judiciary workers refuse to bulge on perks: Malawi courts still shut down

Judiciary workers in Malawi have defied government calls to resume work  despite the recent government threat to seal off the courts and withhold salaries for striking staff members if they refuse to end the strike.

Malawi ifacing spate of industrial actions and workers strike
Malawi facing spate of industrial actions and workers strike

Government chief secretary George Mkondiwa directed that the striking workers should resume work on January 5 or else the government would seal off their premises and withhold their January salaries.

But the judiciary staff converged at their place of work on Tuesday to resume their strike, which has now entered its seventh week.

Spokesperson for the Judiciary,  Mlenga Mvula says the workers will not resume work until government meets their demands in full.

Malawi President Peter Mutharika said in his recent state of the nation address that his government will not meet the strikers’ demands because of financial constraints.

He said judiciary workers already receive higher salaries than colleagues elsewhere in the government.

“The gist of the strike is that those who have privileged salary scales want to continue to earn more than their mainstream civil servant colleagues. In short, they demand equal salary increments that will maintain their superiority over their mainstream civil servants. To do this means that we will have to have extra money from somewhere. There is just no money to increase their salary scales,” said Mutharika.

Mutharika said his administration is implementing a salary harmonization policy, which seeks to ensure that all government workers of equal grades receive equal salary, regardless of their departments.

Mlenga says the issue of salary harmonization is out of context.

“The issue of salary harmonization has no legal basis because what we are talking about here is about the agreement made in 2012 that each time government is revising the salaries of the civil servants, we  will be increasing our salaries as well,” said Mvula.

However,  Malawi’s Human Rights Commission says the strike is violating people’s rights to justice. It has asked the workers to end their nearly two month-long stalemate.

Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale echoed similar view saying the strike has no legal basis because it began before all channels of negotiations were exhausted.

He also said the 2012 agreement between the government and judiciary workers on salary increments has no legal binding.

“The conditions of service that the Judiciary are basing their demands on were made in 2012 and were approved by the Public Appointments Committee that year. There is no record that they were approved by the National Assembly itself,” stated Kaphale in his legal opinion.

Meanwhile, prison and police officials are complaining of overcrowded cells.

The ongoing strike is hampering progress of trials, as court operations remain suspended.

Several trials, including those in connection with the financial scandal have been indefinitely suspended.

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John
John
9 years ago

AKUCHOTSANI NTCHITO MUSAMALE! PANO PETER IS BUSY RALLYING SUPPORT FROM CHIEFS, MALAWIANS, INCLUDING ANTHU AMENE SALI PA NTCHITO. THEY WILL END UP TAKING UP YOUR POSITIONS. I CAN SEE A KENYA SCENARIO HERE WHERE ALL JUDICIAL STRIKING WORKERS WERE FIRED AND REPLACED AT THE BLINK OF THE EYE. DONT SAY I DID NOT WARN YOU!

Hebrews
Hebrews
9 years ago

Ine ma Judicial staff ndinu a corruption no1. Ndinu amene mumasowetsa ma file ambava zoopsa! Mwamanga manga nyumba ndi ndalama zobera anthu ndiye mukufuna chani? Inu munaphunzira kuposa ma Civil servants enawa kodi? Pack and go! Ngati simunakhutire bwanji osapanga resign!

hastings chitan
9 years ago

So sad, let’s join hands to build our nation instead of wasting time ndi zinthu zosathandiza. Pliz worker’s ur there to help people not self enrich.

zebrono
zebrono
9 years ago

ife nde ndi o% bwana tiganizileni mukutidziwa kale

Alfred Munduwabo
Alfred Munduwabo
9 years ago

Don’t forget Mwalawians , DPP was telling Malawians workers during campaigns that once in power all the government workers will not receive changes , instead all the government workers were to go to their homes with real pay at the end of the month , We were asking DPP party campaigners as where they were going to get the money for the high salaries which they were promising government workers ? Their answers they were giving to all Malawians was that being in the government before for 8 years ,it was their jobs to find the money for all their… Read more »

Mtendeko
Mtendeko
9 years ago

Kodi inu a Judiciary, mumaziona ngati ndinu opambana kuposa ma civil servants onse eti? Ngati simukufuna ntchito, bwanji osangochita resign, musatibowe. Just pack and go, zopusa basi.

vigour
vigour
9 years ago

These guys are useless fire them plz

The Country Chief
9 years ago

Sizikugwilizana ndi anthu akumpoto,izi nza fuko lonse la malawi,umbuli bwanji anthuni

true
true
9 years ago

Tatopa zonenana mitundu. Phindu ndi kuti?

Mpumulo wa Bata
9 years ago

Anything that is legal goes through parliament or is delegated through an act of parliament. These guys should be fired. They will be surprised to see thousands of Malawians applying for their jobs. There are thousands of other civil servants who are getting peanuts and are doing vital jobs like teachers, policemen, nurses etc.

the Northern speech
the Northern speech
9 years ago

Ngozo this issue is about national interest its not about racial tribal ,how northerners work in the judiciary? Penapake kumaganiza bwino siumbuli okha okha timakanawo .kafunseni evin mlomweyo akupanganawo strike POOR MALAWI WAKE UP

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