Some civil servants working in Ministry of Transport and Public Works’ Buildings Department have threatened to stop erecting podiums for President Peter Mutharika’s functions and other Very Very Important Person (VVIP) events if government fails to pay their allowance arrears.
Some of the VVIP functions for which the allowances are yet to be paid date back to 2011.
The Sunday Times understands that the money that the officers are claiming for the period is in excess of K130 million but the amount was reduced following a scrutiny by the department.
Apart from Mutharika’s functions, some of the podiums were erected for functions conducted by former presidents Joyce Banda and late Bingu wa Mutharika.
The podiums include the ones erected during the official opening of the Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe in 2011, elevation of Chief Tsabango in 2012, a wedding of Banda’s relative in 2013 and the launch of People’s Party (PP) campaign at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe in 2014.
A letter from the concerned civil servants in the Central Region, dated October 6 2017, to the Office of the President and Cabinet’s Human Resources Department says the civil servants have been suffering a lot for working outside their duty stations without allowances.
“We have not been receiving allowances for duties we performed during VVIP functions from 2013 to 2017. We wrote a letter to the Director of Buildings on 15 June 2017 on the issue, which we are also forwarding to you. But up to now, we have not been assisted. We continue performing our duties without getting allowances. We sleep at the venue of the functions and without food. We are tired of this treatment,” reads part of the letter.
The officials in the Central Region only, as of October 6 2017, were claiming about K11.6 million.
The civil servants set November 1 2017 as a deadline when the issue should have been addressed.
In their June 15 2017 letter to Director of Buildings Terence Namaona, the officers said for assignments within their duty station, they would be knocking off at times set by government.
They said for weekend events, if they do not get allowances, they will not be going to perform their duties.
The Sunday Times has established that apart from arrears accumulated during the reigns of Banda and Bingu, there are some most recent functions for which the officers are claiming that they did not receive their dues.
The functions include ones attended by Vice-President Saulos Chilima and First Lady Gertrude Mutharika.
Some of them are the groundbreaking ceremony for the extension of Kamuzu International Airport, launch of national identity cards, fundraising fashion show at Kamuzu Palace, anniversary for Mua Parish and a campaign rally at Kaliyeka Primary School Ground in Lilongwe City South East Constituency.
But Namaona, who confirmed the complaint, said most of the arrears were accumulated between 2011 and 2014.
“We are addressing the concerns. At first, the figures they told us were very big. But since last year, we have been paying the money. What we are doing at the moment is that whenever we have resources, we are paying the arrears.
“I can say that all the money that was supposed to be paid to the officers in the Northern Region has been paid. In the Central Region, we have substantially reduced the amount. But we still have substantial arrears to pay in the Southern Region,” Namaona said.
He said, currently, the money to be paid to officials in the Central Region is under K5 million.
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