Parliament summons Labour ministry over Malawi Savings Bank retrenchment

Parliament has summoned ministry of labour principal secretary and his team to give a detailed account on why the ministry allowed FDH Holdings to retrench 250 employees at Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) after assurances that no one would lose a job at the bak.

Chairman of Community and Social Welfare committee of parliament Richard Chimwendo Banda said just a few months ago, the minister of finance Goodall Gondwe assured parliamentarians that the government decision to sell off all stakes in Malawi Savings Bank would not result in loss of employment even for a single worker.

“The officials from the ministry of Labour have assured us that they will come very soon, they will appear before us because this is a serious matter, we don’t want more people to lose their jobs at MSB. We want to find out if the government deliberately lied to us that no one would lose a job at MSB,” he said.

He said parliament rejected government decision to sell off MSB because of, among other reasons, fear that jobs would be lost at the bank.

Principal secretary for Labour Patrick Kabambe said the ministry officials will appear before the committee.

Earlier, minister of Labour Henry Mussa said FDH Holdings consulted the ministry before the retrenchment and government officials were convinced there was need for the retrenchment.

He said re retrenchment was necessitated because of the merger between FDH Bank and MSB saying there were duplicate positions for one position.

FDH Holdings head of marketing Sobhuza Ngwenya said the retrenchment has made MSB more effective and efficient than ever before as it starts a long journey for listing on the Malawi Stock Exchange.