Strike at Malawi Institute of Tourism, teachers demand pay rise
Classes are suspended at the Malawi Institute of Tourism (MIT) because training officers are staging a strike asking for a salary hike.
Students are crying foul following the strike because they are simply wasting their time at the school.
“The training officers are demanding a salary hike but management is refusing to grant them. The situation is bad because classes are not there and we are just wasting our time here,” said one student.
Another student said: “We have just paid fees for this year and now we have this strike. This is unfair.”
On Wednesday, students were seen loitering around and some of them left for their homes as early as 9am.
MIT is also struggling to repay K18 million it received from the accountant general by mistake when the money was meant for MIE [Malawi Institute of Education]. The money went to into the account of MIT and
management used it.
When government realized that the money meant for MIE was used by MIT, the latter was ordered to pay the money back and the school is doing so in instalments.
“In fact, management wanted to raise school fees to cover that money they stole from MIE but students protested,” said one training officer.
One member in the management team said management will not hike salaries of the training officers because the institute has financial problems.
“It is becoming a common song now that everybody just wakes up and begins to demand salary hike. We do appreciate that the cost of living has gone up but government is struggling to raise finances even to pay
striking judiciary staff,” the member said.
“It is true that we received over K18 million by mistake. The allocation was for MIE but it went to our account. Management used the money but when it was traced, we were told to repay the money and we are doing that in bits from our meagre monthly allocations,” the member added.
MIT trains personnel in hospitality industry.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
