Lilongwe teachers give MEC 7-days ultimatum

Teachers from Lilongwe Rural East, Lilongwe Urban and Lilongwe Rural West on Tuesday morning marched and petitioned Lilongwe City Chief Executive Officer (CEO), District Commissioner (DC)  demanding honoraria payment by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).

Led by the Teachers Union of Malawi  (TUM) Secretary General Dennis Kalekeni, the teachers have warned of unspecified action if they are not paid their dues in seven days.

“Gone are days when we were being taken as slaves. MEC has been calling for a list of those who worked as electoral commission monitors but have been continuously cheated with stories that are not palatable.

“If we are not paid within these days we will take action, one which will be a national wide demonstrations and MEC shall be reliable for any consequence arising from their negligence,” reads part of the petition.

Kalekeni said it is a shame that as the country celebrates 50 years of independence, teachers in the country are celebrating 50 years of slavery.

“Today we have shown some remorse but if our call is ignored then the next action will be disastrous,” he warned.

The concerned teachers are demanding that MEC pays them their honoraria for their involvement in the polling exercise during the May 20 Tripartite Elections, an exercise that lasted more than the scheduled eight days.

MEC spokesperson Sangwani Mwafulirwa  had earlier attributed the delay of payment to a mix-up of bank accounts which he, said, will be sorted out.

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