Malawi to give least paid civil servants over 40 % pay rise
Malawi Government will give least paid civil servants a salary increment of over 40 percent, from July 2012, while highest paid civil servants will get just 11 percent.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Ralph Jooma, told official Malawi News Agency (Mana) that the 21 percent which Finance Minister Ken Lipenga announced in parliament was an average percentage, saying least paid employees have been considered with over 40 percent to match with skyrocketing prices of goods.
“Civil servants should know that Ministry of Finance just allocates resources and the 21 percent that was announced was an average of total wage bill,” Jooma told Mana.
“Least paid civil servant will get over 40 percent as their salary increment while the highest paid staff will get about 11 percent,” he aid.
This comes as a result of misunderstanding on the matter by many civil servants who thought 21 percent was their salary increment for everyone.
Jooma said Human Resource Department will choose categories of who should get over 40 percent and who should get 11 percent.
“In terms of choosing what percentage each individual civil servant should get is the responsibility of Human Resource department and not ours,” he clarified.
Lipenga told parliament that “wages and salaries for civil servants are pegged at 86.8 billion kwacha ($340 million, 270 million euro). With this provision, government will be able to restructure salaries for civil servants by an average of 21 percent which is above projected inflation.”
Malawi’s 170,000 civil servants earn around $100 a month, low compared with the region but sought after locally.
