(NEWZIMBABWE) Govt shames prophets of doom on salaries
24/01/2014 00:00:00
by Mukachana Hanyani
THE recent awarding of a salary increment to civil servants by government has proved beyond doubt that the Zanu PF-led government has got the people at heart. It has shamed detractors and demonstrated to all and sundry that fulfilling promises is an obligation, especially for a people-oriented revolutionary party that has become a constant thorn in the flesh for Western capital.
In the last five years of the inclusive government tenure, salary increment was as taboo as following Tendai Biti, the former Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary General, to the serenity of the toilet to witness if he conjures greenbacks. However, it has only taken Zanu PF a paltry six months to reverse civil servants’ misery of the lost half-decade. Such swiftness of action is what sets Zanu PF apart from other pitiful pretenders.
The likes of Biti, Paurina Mpariwa-Gwanyanya and Lucia Matibenga seemed to trivialise the grievances of Government workers while prioritising their gallivanting. Now that Zanu PF has taken giant steps in alleviating the plight of civil servants, which is applauded by the majority of the progressive citizenry, the same purveyors of neglect attempt to revive their waning political fortunes by casting themselves as champions of the workers’ rights.
That the MDC-T in general and Biti in particular should question Government’s source of funds to foot the increased wage bill is quite understandable. The party and the man failed dismally during the inclusive government and would be avid students of Patrick Chinamasa on where they went wrong during that short and yet agonising brief when Biti was the country’s financial steward. However, one thing is certain; that the money did not come from Biti’s bowels but was mobilised for Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans!
The public is also alive to the love for high life that runs within the MDC-T, including philandering. Shonhe, the party’s ex-Intelligence chief and his harem at Harvest House, Isaac Matongo who rested eternally after a romp with Evelyn Masaiti. The list is as long as one’s arm and only goes to show that this coterie of people with diverse and often contradictory ideological founding have nothing in common (with workers) than pursuing self-enrichment and empire-building.
When the Zanu PF government promised civil servants that it was going to award them salaries based on the poverty datum line (PDL), the same opposition leaders rushed to dismiss the government saying that it has no capacity to pay. Some economic commentators such as Eric Bloc and John Robertson said that the PDL-linked salaries would destroy the country, as the economy is not performing well. They alleged that the current economic situation in the country could not sustain such an increment. To them, the monthly bill that currently stands at US$142million should not be increased. They saw a situation in which Zanu PF was just pontificating without any prospects of fulfillment.
Not that people have come to expect anything less, but the MDC-T has a long history of disparaging any Zanu PF-initiated programmes that seek to ameliorate the living standards of locals, such as Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIMASSET), as meaningless endeavours despite endorsement from captains of industry who have applauded the blueprint as a panacea to the country’s challenges if effectively implemented. So the fact that the Zanu PF-led government has finally agreed with representatives of the civil servants to award them 26% of their basic salary is a good development worth appreciating, even by the most ardent doubting Thomases.
People still recall that during the inclusive government, Tsvangirai, then Prime Minister, was overwhelmed by a crowd at Glamis stadium and promised workers, including civil servants, what he called “a living wage” during his inaugural speech. One may assume that he was referring to a poverty datum line-based salary. Civil servants did not hold their breath in gleeful anticipation because they risked suffocation since the promise is yet to be fulfilled. Rather, the workers went about their purposeful work of fending for their families and rebuilding a country ravaged by years of unmitigated sabotage by the West.
Government has said that the 26% salary adjustment, translating to seventy-nine dollars ($79, 00), does not mark the end of negotiations. Instead, this is just the beginning of efforts to align salaries with the poverty datum line. The salaries will be reviewed periodically until the desired peg is achieved. Kudos are in order to the stakeholders, including Government and civil service unions representatives, for level-headedness in the midst of intricacies and emotions that attend to salary negotiations.
It is worth appreciating that the country’s economy is not performing to the expected standards due to a plethora of reasons, chief among which is the issue of illegal sanctions. Therefore it is only prudent that any salary increments be done cautiously. For argument’ sake, Robertson’s assertion that employers should pay their workers productivity-based salaries as opposed to PDL-salaries as part of attempts to get the ailing firms on their feet is not a rocket scientist’s discovery. Now, if Robertson agrees that the economic situation in the country is not conducive to sustain PDL-based salaries, how come he and his ilk are very quick to blame government for failing to award some civil servants the same PDL-based salaries? But then, these are armchair critics that make fortunes out of contradictions.
As such, any sane person would agree that the increment that the government awarded to civil servants is what was available and within the means of Government. It is what union representatives felt was best for the workers given the circumstances of the economy. No amount of, or attempt at ingratiation by the MDC-T and other regressive forces will separate the workers from their employer. Not even when the economy is being made to scream.
Mukachana Hanyani can be contacted on mhanyani@yahoo.com
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, MDC CORRUPTION, NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES
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Wage freeze for govt workers final - Scott
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Sun 03 Nov. 2013, 14:01 CAT
VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott says corrupt people get attracted to the ruling party. And Vice-President Scott says the two-year cap on wages for civil servants is final but the government is willing to engage trade unions. Vice-President Scott said this in Parliament on Friday during the Vice-President's question time.
Mapatizya UPND member of parliament Clive Miyanda caused laughter when he asked Vice-President Scott to apologise to home affairs minister Edgar Lungu who said he was uncomfortable working with corrupt ministers. Lungu on Friday sat next to Vice-President Scott in the National Assembly.
"If the Honourable cares to go back to the story in The Post newspaper, he will find no mention of me saying that we have corrupt ministers in the government," Vice-President Scott. "What I said is that corrupt people such as those in the land-grabbing industry in Lusaka are attracted to the ruling party. The people in Lusaka West, when the MMD was in power, they had blue chitenge; as soon as PF came into power, they had green chitenge. I will stand by that."
Vice-President Scott said the government would proceed to implement the planned two-year ban on increase of salaries for civil servants and also the recruitment of new government workers.
This was in response to Sinda MMD member of parliament Levy Ngoma who queried on the planned picketing of Parliament by the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions to force legislators to overturn the proposed freeze in wages and hiring of new public workers.
"The wage freeze is for two years and there hasn't been a freeze this year. There had been enormous increments at certain levels in the civil servants," Vice-President Scott said. "We are not authoritarians, we are not dictators, we are prepared to talk about almost anything. We are not afraid to talk, but we have made our position very clear."
And Nalikwanda MMD member of parliament Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa, quoting the Daily Mail, asked him on what the government planned to do for the people of Sioma who were reportedly buying roller meal at K150 per 25 kilogrmme bag.
In response, Vice-President Scott said: "That is Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit DMMU's responsibility and I will see to it that is done, but I wouldn't believe everything I have read in the Daily Mail anywhere."
Labels: CLIVE MIYANDA, GUY SCOTT, PF, SALARIES
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Milupi urges Sata to forgo salary increase
By Allan Mulenga
Sun 20 Oct. 2013, 14:01 CAT
CHARLES Milupi says President Michael Sata should show leadership by refusing to accept the 10 per cent salary increase awarded to him and other constitutional office holders.
In an interview yesterday, Milupi, leader of Alliance for Democracy and Development, said President Sata should "search his soul" and reject the increment just like former president Rupiah Banda did.
"That's how the 2008 increase did not go through. (President Sata) has spent his time castigating Banda about corruption, about selfishness. On this particular issue, let him follow the example of former president Banda by refusing to accept that," Milupi said.
Milupi said it was not morally right for President Sata to accept the newly-revised salary increase for him and other constitutional office holders.
Milupi accused President Sata of playing double standards by accepting a 10 per cent salary increment.
"You can't change in life like a chameleon; whenever it suits you then you change. I say this because I was in Parliament in 2008, immediately after the death of former president Mwanawasa, when a motion came on the remuneration of the constitutional office bearers, including the President. He stood on a hill to condemn that totally, even though Parliament had approved it. He made so much noise, remember that is when he was saying, 'Mwanawasa rejected this, now Banda is approving this'," he explained.
"Because of that, president Banda refused to assent to that. And for him to say, 'it is not me, it is Parliament', the President has authority on all the laws in Parliament. No law will be enacted in Parliament unless it is assented to by the President. That is the constitutionalism that we operate."
Milupi wondered why President Sata had been calling on opposition members of parliament to lead the way by foregoing the 10 per cent salary increase.
"For him to come up with a statement that 'I will also forego my pay if the opposition MPs forego their increase or refuse to accept the increase', that is the most ridiculous statement that has ever come from a head of state. The head of state is not driven by members of the opposition. He should show leadership himself. Even if the opposition say they will go ahead, because they can only go ahead receiving if the President assents to it, but if he refuses to sign, nobody will get an increase," he said.
Milupi said leaders join politics to serve and not to earn riches.
"No president compares himself to chief executives of organisations anywhere in the world. President Obama is not the highest paid official in America. You are in politics to serve, you don't need to go there to make money," said Milupi.
On Friday, home affairs Edgar Lungu indicated that President Sata was ready to forego the 10 per cent salary increase awarded to him.
Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, EDGAR LUNGU, MICHAEL SATA, SALARIES
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Match higher salaries with productivity - IMF
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wed 25 Sep. 2013, 14:01 CAT
THE recent sharp increase in minimum wages and a large pay award to civil servants needs to be matched by higher productivity, says the IMF.
And Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba has revealed that next year's budget will focus on reducing government expenditure as a way of containing rising fiscal deficit which has accelerated from targeted five per cent this year to 8.5 per cent of the gross domestic product.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund says Zambia's economic growth will slow down to six per cent this year before picking up seven to 7.5 per cent between 2014 and 2016.
IMF advisor for the African Department and head of the latest mission to Zambia John Wakeman-Linn said the increases in wages had put pressure on labour costs for the private sector and the government.
"To maintain strong economic growth, it will also be important to safeguard competitiveness and build buffers against external shocks," he told journalists during a joint press briefing with Yamba.
More neoliberal garbage. These people should hang their heads in shame, over the state of the African continent. A continent, whose economies have been sabotaged by IMF and World Bank recommendations for over 30 years now. Read:
(GLOBALRESEARCH) Somalia: the Real Causes of Famine
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, February 21, 2013
Globasl Research 21 July 2011
"Last year's sharp increase in minimum wages and this year's large pay award to civil servants are putting pressure on labour costs in both the private and public sectors. Competitiveness may suffer if the higher wages are not matched by higher productivity."
And Wakeman-Linn revealed that Zambia's fiscal deficit is this year expected to increase to 8.5 per cent from the initially targeted five per cent of the GDP due to government's expansionary expenditure.
He said the current government lacked enough revenues to fund its programmes.
"Government expenditures in 2013 will be significantly above budget, including from fuel subsidies incurred before retail prices were raised on May 1, the civil service wage increase that came into effect this month, and costs of recovering the Food Reserve Agency's operations and outstanding debt," Wakeman-Linn said.
"In addition, the revenue is short of target. Altogether, the budget deficit for the year is now expected to reach about 8.5 per cent of the GDP."
Meanwhile, Yamba revealed that next year's budget would be focused on increasing revenue collection and reducing expenditure to contain the widening fiscal deficit targeted at five per cent of the GDP next year.
The IMF also revealed that government debt as a proportion of the GDP has accelerated from 32 per cent last year to 37 per cent this year.
"We agreed on measures to reduce the deficit as we move forward in the medium term," said Yamba. "This entails that we need to tighten our expenditures and also reduce our borrowing and at the same time, we need to broaden the tax base. That is the only way you can reduce the deficit. So, on the revenue side, you broaden your tax base and then you look at the expenditure side and tighten it. When the budget is presented in the course of next month, we shall then give you the details because we cannot pre-empty the budget this time which will be presented on October 11."
Wakeman-Linn said Zambia's total debt burden was expected to accelerate to 37 per cent of the GDP from last year's 32 per cent.
"The current projections are that both the stock of domestic debt will be a little of 18 per cent of GDP by the end of this year and similarly the stock of external debt will be a little over 18 per cent of GDP this year…combined almost 37 per cent of GDP," said Wakeman-Linn.
"Last year's position, the combined was a little over 32 per cent of the GDP. The mission very much welcomes the government's plans to comprehensively address the fiscal challenges in the budget for 2014. By a combination of stepped-up revenue collection and tight expenditure control, the draft budget aims to bring the deficit to five per cent of the GDP, similar to what was originally planned."
Labels: IMF, JOHN WAKEMAN-LINN, NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Civil servants table their pay demands
24/09/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PUBLIC sector workers opened negotiations with the government on a new pay structure on Tuesday with demands for housing stands and hefty allowances for rural workers.
President Robert Mugabe and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche have both promised an upward pay review for government workers including teachers, soldiers, police officers, nurses and doctors.
Last week, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) invited unions to submit proposals over the new pay structure. The unions met in Harare on Tuesday and consolidated their demands.
The unions want a salary of US$540 for the least paid government worker, currently on US$297.
They also want a rural service allowance to cover mainly teachers, doctors and nurses which will be 30 percent of their pay.
They said in a position paper adopted after their meeting: “We demand that the lowest paid civil servant in B1 Grade be paid a salary equivalent to the current Poverty Datum Line estimated at US$540, broken down as follows: basic salary from US$159 to US$317, housing allowance from US$74 to US$160 and a transport allowance of US$63.
“Seventy percent of Zimbabweans live in the rural areas and the majority of civil service workers work in rural areas too. In order to incentivise, attract and retain civil servants to remain in these difficult areas, we demand that a Rural Service Allowance be pegged at 30 percent of one’s basic salary.
“The majority of civil service workers have no houses of their own and pay heavily in rentals, thus we demand that the government urgently avail land for residential housing for civil service workers.”
Most government workers are currently earning below the taxable threshold since the country adopted the multiple-currency system in 2009 in a bid to fight inflation.
The government has been unable to significantly increase public sector workers’ pay due to a depressed budget owing to less-than-impressive receipts from mining and agriculture.
But Goche last week said looking for resources to fund the promised pay rise was “work in progress”, with proceeds from diamond sales likely to be used to effect the adjustment.
But the government – which has huge financial demands from development sectors of the economy – is unlikely to accede to all the demands by the 230,000-strong civil service, whose pay accounted for more than 73 percent of the total budget in 2012.
Outlining his government programme following his election victory on July 31, Mugabe pledged more investment in infrastructure rehabilitation, with focus on power generation, extensive repairs to the road network and improving water supplies.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES
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Low salaries for workers in tourist areas sadden Yeta
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Fri 30 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
SENIOR Chief Inyambo Yeta of the Barotse Royal Establishment in Mwandi says the atmosphere where locals in tourist areas only have low-earning jobs like gardening and room attendants is perpetuating poverty.
Speaking at the Kavango Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area-UNWTO luncheon at Livingstone's Zambezi Sun Hotel yesterday, chief Yeta said locals were the owners of the region's natural assets, especially in the area of nature-based tourism but they had been to a large extent marginalised.
"Communities bore and continue to bear the cost of co-existing with
wildlife. Unfortunately, local communities have not benefited much economically from these resources, as they have been marginalised to a large existent," chief Yeta said.
"The only benefits accruing to communities, with exception of a few cases, are employment opportunities and mostly for low-earning jobs such as gardening, laundry, bar and room attendants."
He said support to community projects by some of the tourist operators was mostly out of their good hearts.
"This atmosphere has perpetuated poverty among the rural communities whilst enriching the private sector," chief Yeta said.
"It is against this background that as communities, we appreciate the development agenda of KAZA-TFCA where emphasis is placed on empowering local communities."
Chief Yeta said within the KAZA-TFCA context, tourism was a highly sustainable industry.
"We are of the considered view that for communities to effectively participate in regional tourism as economic players, there is an urgent need to have a paradigm shift among communities to realise that the communities are the resource owners," he said.
"As community, our next step should be to use our resources to engage the private sector to form joint ventures anchored on strong business principles without necessarily bequeathing our resources to them."
Chief Yeta said this could only be tenable if the government and civil societies assist locals in tourist areas to strengthen business skills and provide them with affordable capital to build tourism infrastructure.
Labels: CHIEF INYAMBO YETA, SALARIES, TOURISM
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Salaries in quasi-government institutions scandalous - Kabimba
By Roy Habaalu
Thu 17 Jan. 2013, 14:00 CAT
GOVERNMENT has constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to look at salaries for heads of quasi-government institutions and those of other workers because of scandalous differences between the highest and lowest paid, says Wynter Kabimba.
And Kabimba said Zambia was using a colonial education system that produced graduates irrelevant to third world countries. Addressing head teachers in Mazabuka, Kabimba who is justice minister, said the sub-committee would bring about equity among employees of government institutions.
"For a long time now, we've had a scandalous salary structure. You find a chief executive officer in a quasi government institution getting a salary that can pay all of us here. But we can't continue like that. So government has constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to restructure salaries like we live in one country and this will cut across, starting with the President himself," he said.
Kabimba said the measure was aimed at creating equity among citizens and that no one was left behind.
He said there was no need for people to work hard if they were not remunerated well and according to their input.
Kabimba said the gap in the salary structure kept widening for the last 20
years, a situation he said would cause civil strife.
"I sat in one of these sub-committee meetings where I heard that a driver at the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) was getting more money than a minister! For students, government will introduce a bill for them to access loans and pay back when they start work," said Kabimba.
Earlier Kabimba said it was shameful that the country had allowed its native languages in schools to die.
He said there was a colonial hangover among citizens that mad them feel that speaking English with an accent, was equivalent to being educated.
"Research undertaken has revealed that every minute a language dies. This is a deliberate effort by our colonial masters to kill our languages which is a vehicle for personal identity and attachment to a country and if a language is killed, it's as good as killing a human being. It's a war government has to win otherwise the country is gone," he said. The British system is that of regurgitating, thinking it's synonymous to being intelligent," he said.
Kabimba said intelligence was about having tools to resolve problems affecting the country and not memorising solutions.
Labels: LANGUAGES, SALARIES, WYNTER KABIMBA
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No pay hike for civil servants
11/01/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
STATE employees are considering strike action accusing the government of taking advantage of a leadership dispute in their ranks to delay a pay hike Treasury promised would be effected this month.
Soldiers received their January salaries on Thursday without the inflation-adjusted increment announced by Finance Minister Tendai Biti in his 2013 budget statement.
The Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said the development had hit morale as members returned to work for the new school term.
"Most of our members opened schools anticipating that something would come up and obviously morale will be down on hearing that there is nothing for them,” a union official said.
Acting Public Service Secretary Rodgers Sisimayi said the government had no one to negotiate the increment with after a leadership wrangle rocked the Apex Council which represents state workers in wage negotiations.
The Council’s term of office expired in February last year and the unions have failed to agree a new committee.
Said Sisimayi: “The problem is that the Apex Council has failed to come up with a new leadership since last year yet salaries and updates are announced through a platform called the National Joint Negotiating Council.
“This is a platform that brings to the negotiating table workers side and Government negotiators, but as it stands, there is no way Government can communicate.”
Government lawyers are still considering a request by unions to negotiate with the old committee led by Zimbabwe Teachers Association president, Tendai Chikowore.
“We acknowledge receipt of their letter requesting that we engage the old committee. We are looking at the legal implications of such a move and we will notify them in due course what we would have resolved,” Sisimayi said.
Union leaders however, threatened to go on strike over the impasse.
“This is an insult and Government is setting a terrible precedent,” said College Lecturers Association of Zimbabwe President David Dzatsunga.
“It means we are never taken seriously, but what they should know is that some unions are mobilising their members for a possible industrial action.”
Chikowore added: ““There is a breakdown of social dialogue and they might have seen our weaknesses and decided to go quiet.
“We are going to meet and make sure we unite as we move forward.”
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe boss Raymond Majongwe said the unions would meet Tuesday to consider strike action.
“Somebody out there is pushing us to go and strike and this is one issue we will put into consideration come Tuesday," he said.
The lowest paid government employee earns US$296 per month and unions are demanding an adjustment in line with the poverty datum line which is estimated at about US$600.
But Biti says the government does not have the resources to meet the Unions’ demands with the state wage bill already accounting for 68 percent of overall expenditure.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES, TENDAI BITI
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Chibuluma mine workers propose 40% pay rise
By Gift Chanda
Tue 20 Nov. 2012, 10:40 CAT
UNIONISED workers at Chibuluma Copper Mine have proposed a 40 per cent pay rise next year, barely eight months after their wages were increased by 17 per cent, says a senior company official.
Jackson Sikamo, the company's metallurgical and environment manager, said the unionised workers who are proposing a 40 per cent pay rise next year get an average salary of about K4 million.
"We will be negotiating this proposal but if it falls through, it may affect most of our programmes, especially the expansion of the mine because the wage bill alone constitutes 32 per cent of our total operation costs," he said in an interview.
Sikamo said the wage bill was a critical factor for the company's operations, adding that every pay rise granted directly impacts significantly on the company's cost of mining the copper.
Chibuluma copper mine, which is owned by China's Jinchuan, in March this year agreed to a 17 per cent pay rise to its more than 500 workers, almost triple the country's inflation rate.
Most mining firms in the country granted pay increases to their workers this year after President Michael Sata, who assumed office last year with promises to spread the benefits of Zambia's mineral wealth, asked labour unions to keep salary demands close to inflation, which slowed to 6.0 per cent in February.
He also told Cabinet ministers not to interfere in salary negotiations, saying that could scare foreigners looking to invest in Africa's biggest copper producer.
Glencore International Plc's Mopani Copper Mines agreed to a 17 per cent pay rise with unions in February and Konkola Copper Mines which is majority owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, has awarded a similar pay increase to its workers.
Labels: MINERS, SALARIES
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Emoluments to gobble 50% of 2013 budget
By Kabanda Chulu
Thu 18 Oct. 2012, 14:00 CAT
ALMOST half of the K32.2 trillion 2013 national budget announced last Friday by finance minister Alexander Chikwanda will go towards personal emoluments, wages and salaries.
K10.5 trillion would be spent on personal emoluments as compared to K8.06 trillion that was spent in 2012 while non-personal emoluments would account for K18.5 trillion compared to K15.8 trillion with constitutional and statutory expenditure getting K3.1 trillion as compared to K3.7 trillion spent in 2012.
According to estimates of revenue and expenditure contained in the Yellow Book, Office of the President at State House would get K38.5 billion (K34.5 billion-2012) of which K12.2 billion will cater for personal emoluments while K300 million is for general operations at State House golf course with K155.7 million planned for management of State House wild animals.
Cabinet Office (Office of the President) has been allocated K126.8 billion from the 2012 figure of K114.6 billion and K12 billion will be spent on salaries while K1.5 billion as support services to the first lady.
Office of the Vice-President will get K20.5 billion from the 2012 amount of K15.7 billion and K2 billion will be spent on salaries and K1 billion on management and operations of Government House.
The National Assembly has been allocated K323 billion from last year's amount of K256.6 billion with K222.8 billion going towards salaries while the Electoral Commission of Zambia has been allocated K56.9 billion from the 2012 figure of K48.8 billion and K33.9 billion to be spent on salaries.
K4 billion has been allocated for by-elections and another K4 billion for delimitation of constituency and ward boundaries' with K395.2 million for observing of elections but there is no allocation for continuous voter registration.
However, there is no allocation for rehabilitation and upgrading of the Government Printing Department to meet standards required by the Electoral Commission for local printing of ballot papers.
The office of the Auditor General has been allocated K85 billion from the 2012 figure of K77.7 billion and K14.7 billion of this would be spent on salaries while the Drug Enforcement Commission has been allocated K41.4 billion from the 2012 figure of K29.9 billion with K25.6 billion to be spent on salaries.
The Anti-Corruption Commission will be given K58.8 billion from the 2012 figure of K60.1 billion and K5.6 billion will be spent on salaries and K240.6 million on quarterly stakeholder meetings while K5.6 billion will be spent on general administration including operations for the institution.
The office of the former first president would get K2.1 billion with K782.7 million going towards salaries and wages while the office of the fourth president (Rupiah Banda) would get K2.3 billion with K753.4 million going towards salaries and K422 million on rentals while K400 million would be used to purchase motor vehicles.
The Ministry of Tourism and Arts under the tourism development department has been allocated K15 billion towards hosting the 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly while K150 million has been allocated for the national traditional food festival under the same forum.
Labels: 2013 BUDGET (ZM), ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA, CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES
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Fighting corruption with corrupt police officers
By The Post
Mon 01 Oct. 2012, 13:20 CAT
IT is shocking and frightening that serving police officers can storm the offices of a newspaper and vow that they will continue receiving bribes and work with illegal copper dealers until the government starts giving them better salaries.
What are things coming to? If police officers can justify their corruption with such brazenness, where are we headed as a nation? Where does this leave the fight against corruption?
It is clear to us that police officers can only perform their functions properly and efficiently if they are not corrupt - that is, they are effectively constrained by the law.
If, on the other hand, the police is pervaded by corruption, it would be prudent to first engage in reforms to improve its efficiency before engaging it in the fight against corruption.
Low salaries for police officers and other civil servants or public workers have been given as a reason why some of them may engage in corruption. As part of the effort to minimise corruption in the police, civil service and other public sector institutions, it has been suggested that pay scales be raised in line with those in the private sector.
One must note, however, that higher pay in the police and other public sector institutions may simply force opportunistic police officers and other civil servants to demand higher bribes to compensate for the probability of losing what is now a relatively more important and lucrative job.
Of course, there is a broad consensus that low salaries result in a decline of public sector efficiency and productivity and create both incentives and opportunities for corruption and misuse of public resources.
However, it is also agreed that increasing salaries without establishing effective control and monitoring systems as well as enforcement of appropriate sanctions is unlikely to have an impact on corruption.
Underpaid officers develop a wide range of coping strategies to top up incomes, to compensate for their declining purchasing power. It cannot be denied that low salaries provide incentives for corruption. But the story does not end here. It has also been strongly argued that relative pay does not seem to have significant effect on corruption.
This suggests that pay may not have a contemporaneous effect on corruption and that changes in salary scales may not be systematically associated with changes in corruption.
Some research, not only challenges the effectiveness of increasing salaries as an anti-corruption measure, but also concludes that anti-corruption policies designed to increase salaries and net income of potentially corrupt officers may be both ineffective and encourage corruption.
In addition, should a link between salaries and corruption be empirically confirmed, the direction of causality may remain unclear. Corruption may lead to lower pay rather than the reverse, by reducing the public resources available to compensate public officers.
As inefficient public services creates more opportunities for rent-seeking and bribe extortion and corruption, it is argued that higher pay may worsen corruption under certain circumstances, by crowding out other funding necessary for the provision of quality services, undermining the efficiency and productivity of public service delivery.
A further argument relates to the capacity of the civil service to attract and retain the most honest, skilled and motivated officers in the face of long-term decline of average real public sector salaries. The parallel development of the private sector that offer better pay incentives and career opportunities can result in draining highly qualified government officers away from the government.
Pay offered by international organisations may also affect the incentives of public sector officials and contribute to the brain-drain of the most competent civil servants. Similarly, low salaries in the public sector are likely to attract less qualified, poorly motivated and potentially disloyal staff, resulting in an opaque, inefficient and potentially corrupt civil service.
Underpaid staff are more likely to spend a considerable amount of office time on rent-seeking activities, further reducing the overall public service productivity. The combination of these factors is creating working conditions that are conducive to various forms of bureaucratic corruption and misappropriation of public resources.
It is therefore important to consider the full range of incentives embedded within a specific pay system to assess its adequacy and potential to deter corruption.
There is greater public tolerance for corrupt practices when civil servants' incomes are insufficient for living and their relative levels are low or perceived as unfair in comparison to private sector salaries.
Informal payments are perceived as a subsistence strategy that compensate for inequitable working conditions, and economic hardships make it less reprehensible to demand or accept bribes for poorly paid staff as a survival strategy.
Theoretically, higher salaries make corruption potentially more costly, as corrupt behaviours increase the risks of losing a highly rewarding job instead of a low-paying one. In other words, highly paid officials have in principle fewer incentives to indulge in corruption and have more to lose if they are caught.
However, there is a growing consensus that this argument does not directly predict the impact of increasing salary rates on reducing corruption, as other variables are important to consider, such as risks of detection, severity of sanctions and level of enforcement.
But this shocking and frightening story reveals the challenges of combating corruption in this country.
It is impossible to fight corruption with a generally corrupt police service. The police, together with the Judiciary and the mass media, is expected to lead the fight against corruption. But how can a corrupt police lead a fight against corruption in which itself is likely to be a victim?
Even if the civil society is encouraged to remain vigilant and watch out for individuals who engage in corruption, where is it going to report them to? To the police? Which police? The police that works with criminals? The police that is not ashamed to receive money from jerabos?
Citizens are encouraged to be vigilant and report any suspected corrupt activities to the police! But again, which police? The corrupt police? A police that protects criminals, corrupt elements!
Our fight against corruption depends heavily on the effectiveness and professionalism of the police and Judiciary. But if these two are corrupt, what happens to the fight against corruption? It is assumed that such institutions are well constrained by the law and that they are free of corruption. But given what we know, is such an assumption reasonable? If it is unreasonable, again, where does this leave the fight against corruption?
If police officers can be so courageous as to storm a newspaper and pronounce themselves corrupt, then we have a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and urgently so.
Labels: CORRUPTION, EDGAR LUNGU, POLICE, POLIICE CORRUPTION, SALARIES
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Copperbelt cops vow to continue taking bribes from jerabos
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Mon 01 Oct. 2012, 12:10 CAT
SOME police officers on the Copperbelt have vowed to continue receiving bribes and working with illegal copper dealers until the government starts giving them good salaries.
But home affairs minister Edgar Lungu says it is unacceptable for police officers to engage in corruption because of low salaries.
Irate officers who stormed The Post in Ndola said the government should forget about fighting corruption in the police service if they kept paying police officers meagre salaries.
"Even after coming into power, the PF government who promised us heaven on earth have abandoned us. The PF politicians promised to better our salaries once in power and we massively voted for them. But they have refused to better our conditions of services," said one of the officers.
"The fight against corruption is meaningless if the government will continue giving us bad salaries. We will continue working with jerabos, because they give us a lot of money. The jerabos are considerate and we will continue working with them. They put bread and butter on our tables."
The officers said they did not want to engage in corrupt activities but that circumstances forced them to receive bribes.
They said corruption in the police service would have been removed if the officers were getting decent salaries.
"Everyone in the police service is connected. We have people we do favours for who give us money. Our salaries are so little that they cannot even buy groceries for our houses. It is not only junior officers who are involved, even senior officers receive bribes. The bribes we get help us in our day-to-day lives," said one officer proudly.
But Lungu said the meagre salaries in the police service should not be used as justification for wrongdoing.
"As the government, we are aware of the low salaries that police officers are getting and we are working on that. We know they don't have a union and we are really working on their salaries, but this should not justify why they should engage in corrupt activities. Whoever will be found will be arrested," he warned.
Lungu, however, called on police officers to be patient as the government was working on improving their salaries.
Labels: CORRUPTION, EDGAR LUNGU, POLICE, POLIICE CORRUPTION, SALARIES
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Medical body proposes budget increase to lure staff
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 04 Sep. 2012, 19:11 CAT
THE Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has proposed that the 2013 health budget should be increased from the current 9.3 per cent of the total national budget to 15 per cent. And the RDAZ says the creation of new districts would be a positive development if properly planned and in consultation with all key stakeholders.
Association president Whyson Munga said funding to the Ministry of Health in the 2013 National Budget ought to move to 15 per cent of the total national budget in accordance with the Abuja Declaration if significant differences in the health delivery have to be seen from next year onwards.
Dr Munga said the health system was still the same today with the same challenges of inadequate funding, inadequate and sometimes very erratic medical and surgical supplies.
He said this was coupled with demotivated staff and a critical shortage of frontline health workers such as medical doctors, clinical officers and nurses with the country operating with only 50 per cent of the required numbers.
Dr Munga said the training institutions for these critical workers had also continued to receive inadequate financial support for expansion, quality education and research.
He said it took long to train and produce health professionals, "perhaps the five year-term of a government could finish without seeing its own products".
Dr Munga said efforts of investing in such should be seen at the earliest possible time by any government that comes into power.
"There is however hope that in the next three to five years, the burden of human resource shortages will be reduced as Copperbelt Medical School and privately owned health training institutions such as Apex Medical School, Cavendish Medical School, start graduating additional frontline health professionals," he said.
On new districts, Dr Munga said the imminent mistake was that the declaration was entirely being made by the Republican President without consultation with important stakeholders, hence causing a would-be universally acceptable idea to be viewed as a political ploy.
He said the result of this political method of creating new districts was that no budgetary support was attached to the declaration but people had to run about to start operationalising these new districts using the already scarce monetary and human resources circulating in the unfortunate nearest old existing districts.
"One hopes that all the new districts to be formed in the near future will be planned for in terms of monetary allocations and human resource," he said.
However, Dr Munga said government would be able to decentralise development and bring service delivery closest to the people by way of trying to meet the minimum standards of services befitting a district status in all the newly created districts.
"In respect to health delivery, this can bring about construction of a new district hospital in each of the newly created districts. The accessibility of curative district hospital health services can be made easy to the majority of poor Zambians, especially in the countryside," he said.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, RDAZ, SALARIES
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Salary increments for public servants
By The Post
Wed 01 Aug. 2012, 10:40 CAT
Economic justice requires that each individual has adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive, and to give back in service to the community. This, therefore, means that employees have a strict duty to give their employers efficient and conscientious work for which they have a right to a just salary.
The Zambian people should give those who work for them, those who serve them in government and state institutions an honest salary and then ask them for more substantial support.
But this is not to say those who hold state jobs should go off into wild flights of fancy and give themselves salaries that are not in tune with the country's economic realities, salaries that are unwarranted by the objective situation, or stretch for the impossible. If there is need for austerity measures in difficult periods or times, they should be equally shared among all.
The dignity of public service, like the dignity of all work, must be recognised with just salaries and other conditions of service. In fact, we have to show gratitude to those who sacrificed themselves in our service. Again, in saying so, we are not in any way advocating unjustifiably high salaries.
Unreasonably high salaries for public servants may be dangerous because they can destroy their capacity to speak in a forthright manner and tell the people to tighten their belts.
What should be sought is remuneration that guarantees our public servants a dignified livelihood for themselves and for their children. Public service should not mean that one has chosen to live in poverty.
If a man thinks dedicating his entire life to the service of others as a political leader, as a public servant means that in return he should not have such worries as that his children or his family lack certain things, lack some necessity, then he is entering into rationalisations which open his mind to infection by the seeds of future corruption.
Our public servants and their families should have or should go without those things that the families of the average man have or go without, and they should strive to uphold this standard. A more just, fair and humane society is established through man, but man must forge his spirit of fairness, justice and humaneness day by day.
Generally, wages and salaries in this country have gone up considerably over the last few years. And also the cost of living has not been going down, it has actually shot up in a very big way. Zambia is said to be one of the most expensive destinations or countries in Africa. Yet, the salaries of many people in the civil service are still relatively very low.
A salary of slightly over K300 million per annum, that is about K25 million per month, is not that high for a president of the Republic. And K149 million per annum, that is K12.4 million per month, is certainly not excessive for a Cabinet minister. And K140 million per annum, that is K11.6 million per month, for a member of parliament cannot be said to be too high a salary.
We have to be realistic about these things and put ourselves in the shoes of those serving in these positions.
It is clear to us that with such low salaries, those in public service are one way or another not living on their salaries.
It is either they are spending most of their time attending to their private businesses or are using their offices to make more money for themselves. We shouldn't forget that public offices, from that of the president to that of the lowest public worker, have many opportunities for making money.
This is so because these offices do not only create opportunities for making money but they also handle gigantic sums of money and decide how and where it is spent. It is they who decide how many foreign or local trips they should undertake and how much travel allowances they should collect.
What we fail to give them in salaries, they will pay themselves in other ways like travel allowances, sitting allowances and so on and so forth. If we really want to have control on government expenditure, the starting point is to pay public servants well. After doing so, then we can clamp down on other undesirable things they are doing to earn more for themselves.
Ridiculously low salaries are not a cost-saving measure. They are actually a recipe for corruption and more undesirable ways of increasing government expenditure. In saying this, we are not in any way saying that high salaries in themselves will stop corruption, will reduce government expenditure.
There are people who are never satisfied with any amount of money - the more you give them, the more they want. In every community, there are men of base instincts; there are selfish people who don't care about others, who only care about themselves and want everything for themselves without thinking of others.
If they are offered a drink from a river of blood, they will not be satisfied until they drink the river dry. To such men, high salaries mean nothing, and will not stop them from stealing public funds or engaging in corrupt activities. So, here, we are talking about decent people, who have concern for others and who shouldn't be pushed to corruption by low salaries.
It is clear that these public service jobs are not highly paying undertakings. But the question is: why are people so thirsty for these jobs and some even appear to be ready to kill for these jobs? There are hidden benefits - and some of them not so hidden.
These offices have been used to amass wealth. Look at Rupiah Banda! Look at where he was financially before becoming president! Look at where he is financially three years after, when his salary was only K188 million per annum! And the maximum Rupiah could have collected in salaries over three years is only K564 million. But look at the buildings he has constructed in less than two years without any loans from any bank! Where did the money come from? It cannot be from any source other than the use of his office.
What about people like Austin Liato! The highest salary Liato got from government was K86 million per annum as a Cabinet minister. But Liato was able to acquire so many things without ever taking loans and was even able to bury billions of kwacha in the belly of the earth. How was this possible? It was only possible through the use, or rather abuse, of his office.
Liato had very little, if not nothing, before he entered politics and became a minister. But today Liato is a rich man. We are not singling out Rupiah and Liato for victimisation. We are simply showing them as examples of how salaries don't really matter for some of our politicians and how political jobs can be so rewarding financially and otherwise.
These are things we need to take into account when looking at the salaries and other conditions of service for our public servants and the restrictions we should impose on them to serve public interest to the fullest. You can see why Rupiah and his friends had to remove the abuse of office offence from our statute books.
Let's pay our public servants well and then equally hold them accountable for the use of their time, which we have purchased. And also, in addition to this, we should make sure they spend all their time on the work we are paying them for and not on their businesses. If they want to continue to be businessmen, let them leave and go and run their businesses. And if they try to use their offices to salvage their declining business fortunes, then the Anti Corruption Commission should set on them for corruption.
It was for this reason, and to avoid such abuses, that Dr Kenneth Kaunda introduced the leadership code in order to ensure that the decisions made by public officers are not made for self-interest but for the benefit of the people.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES
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COMMENT - More games from the neoliberal MDC.
No joy for civil servants as Biti slashes budget 10pc
Thursday, 19 July 2012 00:00
Business Reporters
THERE is no hope for civil servants salary increment this year as Finance Minister Tendai Biti yesterday slashed the 2012 National Budget by about 10 percent to US$3,64 billion, citing poor revenue inflows.
The civil servants had given the Government up to the end of this month to review their pay or risk devastating strike. Presenting his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Statement in Parliament yesterday, Minister Biti said Government missed its revenue target by US$244 million by end of June with a large chunk being
shortfalls on diamond dividends of US$229,3 million.
The economic growth forecast was also revised from 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent due to revenue shortfalls and poor performance of agriculture.
The wage bill consumed 70 percent of its original US$1,073 billion budget allocation.
Total expenditure for the six months to June amounted to US$1,565 billion.
“Indeed, even in the absence of such reviews, Government faces the real danger of defaulting on salary payments. Hence, we need not take the current monthly payments for granted but seriously appreciate the limited fiscal space for wage adjustments,” Minister Biti said.
Agriculture, that was initially expected to register 11,6 percent growth, is now expected to decline to minus 5,8 percent. Poor harvests were characterised by the late onset and erratic rainfall and long dry spells from the end of December 2011.
Mining will, however, grow to 16,7 percent from an initial forecast of 15,9 percent.
“Contrary to our 2012 gross domestic product growth projections of 9,4 percent, indications are that the economy will shed almost 4 percentage points to grow by only 5,6 percent, which also falls short of the Medium Term Plan annual average target of 7,1 percent,” said Minister Biti.
The outlook is, however, not totally bleak as inflation will remain within target.
The anticipated weakening of the South African rand against the United States dollar and softening in international fuel prices would stabilise inflation.
To enhance revenue inflows, Minister Biti proposed to increase customs duty on flour imports from 5 percent to 20 percent to promote the local milling industry and manufacture of stockfeeds.
He also proposed to raise excise duty on diesel and petrol from 16 and 20 cents per litre to 20 and 25 cents per litre, respectively, with effect from August 1.
“This measure is expected to raise additional revenue of about US$20 million,” he said.
However, the increase in the excise duty rate should not translate into higher prices of diesel and petrol in view of the decline in the price of crude oil from US$124 per barrel in April 2012 to US$101 per barrel as at 13 July.
Government will also sell some of its shareholding in major companies.
Total exports for the period January to June 2012 rose by 45 percent to US$1,6 billion from US$1,1 billion realised in the same period last week. Mineral exports
accounted for the bulk at 73 percent.
Minister Biti said imports have continued to grow much faster, reflecting increased demand for equipment and raw materials for resuscitating industries.
He said mining fees would be reviewed to promote investment and growth.
In preparation of the next farming season and beyond, farmers, with the support of Government, the banking sector, promoters of contract farming and development partners would need to mobilise resources.
This would be within the context of the Comprehensive Agriculture Policy, which puts annual financial requirements for agriculture at US$2,4 billion.
“However, given the under-performance of the budget during the first half of the year and the anticipated lower revenues during the last half of the year, a larger role of other parties — the farmers themselves, the banking sector and development partners — will be required,” said the minister.
He said issues that needed to be urgently addressed to aid economic recovery were the country’s politics, attracting foreign direct investment, leases and restoration of markets as well as the perennial power shortages.
Minister Biti said the Zimbabwe Investment Authority would soon be aligned with the Indigenisation and Empowerment Regulations to address investors’ concerns to enable the country to attract meaningful investment into the country without undermining the empowerment initiatives.
In the six months to June, domestic debt and arrears by Government ministries to service providers continued to rise, further compromising service delivery.
Debts and arrears reached US$179 million by end of June, way above the budgeted US$51,4 million.
To reduce local authorities and inter-parastatal net indebtedness, clearance of arrears to these entities will be directed to the respective parastatal or local authority creditors.
Economists yesterday said the mid-term fiscal policy review lacks “substance” on key issues affecting the economy.
Harare-based economist, Mr Takunda Mugaga, said the minister should have “gone beyond the basics”.
“This was a disappointing budget review, devoid of any real substance. It was silent on key issues that should drive the economy. For instance it relegated the significance of the mining sector to the economy, there has been no effort to improve the Interbank market, no additional capitalisation of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, no clear strategy on debt clearance and no investment in power generation,” he said.
Mr Mugaga said the mid-term fiscal review went against the grain of the Government’s stated objective of leveraging the country’s potential in order to attain economic growth.
“The budget is largely meant to support everyday expenditure, which means we will continue to fare with a liquidity crunch.”
In view of the myriad of challenges facing the economy, Zimbabweans were expecting Minister Biti to announce specific measures to address issues such as investment in the country’s energy infrastructure.
There is also agriculture financing, management and streamlining of the civil servants wage bill, capitalisation of the central bank, automation of tax administration services and a review of the country’s mineral taxation model among other areas.
Other observers contend that the minister particularly “lost the script” on agriculture.
Another economist who asked not to be named blamed Minister Biti for “killing agriculture by refusing to fund the sector”.
He said had the minister given priority to agriculture, the country’s growth targets would have been on course.
“It is strange that (Minister) Biti saw it fit to set aside US$100 million for the census and had enough left over to invest in a failed bank but had nothing to offer to wheat farmers.
“There is no way that we can achieve the set growth targets without substantial investment in agriculture. Let’s face it, agriculture at its prime employed lots of people in this country and was effectively the backbone of the economy.
“Various other sectors were feeding off the buoyancy of this sector and now you say you do not have any resources to fund agriculture, obviously he has lost it.”
The economist added that Minister Biti had effectively killed the goose that lays the golden egg and for as long as his stance did not change, there is no hope for the turnaround of this economy.
BancABC group economist Mr James Wadi said the lack of fiscal space that has seen the Finance Minister revising the budget downwards shows that the economy is over stretched.
He said the current scenario where there is a huge demand for revenue in a shrinking economy was not sustainable as such demands are only feasible in a growing economy.
“We are hitting a situation where even the productive sectors that have been propping up the economy are being choked by impediments and everything is slowly grinding to a halt,” he said.
In this regard he said there was need for the country to focus on areas that can produce quick wins and attract Foreign Direct Investment into the country.
Some observers are, however, of the opinion that the minister could not have done much more than he did in view of the downside risks that have been dogging the economy since the start of the year.
It is these negative factors that forced Minister Biti’s hand to review the budget downwards to US$3,6 billion from the initial US$4 billion, as well as reviewing this year’s Gross Domestic Product growth projection from 9,4 percent to 5,6 percent.
Labels: BUDGET, CIVIL SERVANTS, MDC, SABOTAGE, SALARIES, TENDAI BITI
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Civil servants anxious over Biti's budget review
17/07/2012 00:00:00
by NewZiana
ANXIETY is high in the civil service as the two week ultimatum that they gave the government to review their salaries ends on Thursday without any feedback from the employer.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti is on Wednesday expected to present the mid-term budget review statement with huge cuts in expenditure projected. The civil servants on Tuesday said they were waiting for Biti to present the mid-term fiscal policy review statement to find out whether he had made provision for them.
They re-affirmed their threat to go on strike if the fiscal policy review statement did make any provision for their pay raise.
Apex Council chairperson Tendai Chikowore, who is also Zimbabwe Teachers Union president, said civil servants would decide on action to take after presentation of the fiscal policy review statement.
"We will act after hearing the Mid-Term Policy Statement as we need to see if the finance minister will consider us in his statement which we hope will come up with something reasonable" said Chikowore.
Chikowore confirmed that anxiety was high as the government was yet to propose anything reasonable saying while the government was not cooperating, the mood of the civil servants was not that of disappointment.
"I cannot predetermine the Apex Council's deliberations but I cannot rule out a general strike," said Chikowore.
She said civil servants were tired of waiting for the government to address their plight.
"The government has not responded clearly to our requests after two weeks and as we speak we are still waiting for them to speak," she said.
Biti has indicated that he would not make any provision for civil servants salaries as revenue projections in the 2012 budget had not been met.
This has angered civil servants who are demanding a salary raise to at least US$564 for the least paid worker and 15 percent of the basic salary as rural allowance.
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (TUZ) chief executive officer Manuel Nyawo said the government should show more commitment towards workers’ needs.
"The government is not serious at all, they have failed to give us any satisfactory response to our ultimatum", he said.
"It is our deliberate intention to express our dissatisfaction in a strike that will paralyze government operations as we need to find a lasting solution to this issue," said Nyawo.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES, TENDAI BITI
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Government harmonises salaries in councils
By Henry Sinyangwe
Sun 08 July 2012, 13:24 CAT
THE government has harmonised and rationalised salaries and conditions of service for workers in the local government service.
Speaking during the signing ceremony of the collective agreements for unionized workers in councils countrywide in Lusaka on Friday, permanent secretary for the Public Service Management Division Dr Roland Msiska said there was need to harmonize the salaries and conditions of service across the councils' establishments to enable equal pay for equal work so that the workers were motivated.
He said each employee would be entitled to housing, transport, health and funeral allowances.
"Each council shall have the following conditions of service to cater for the life cycle needs of the employees: graded increase as opposed to across the board increases, introduce a comprehensive mandatory health and funeral insurance, consolidate all remuneration allowances into basic salary, retain duty facilitating allowances and move them into recurrent expenditure and maintain housing and transport allowance for the purpose of managing payroll and conditions of service in the entire Local Government Service as a percentage of basic salary," he said.
Dr Msiska said this will be effective after a physical head count is conducted in all the councils to avoid ghost workers.
And Local Government Association of Zambia representative Dan Longwe said the local authorities should ensure improved service delivery following government's decision to look into their plight.
"This may not be the best but it is good as a starting point so I would urge the local authorities to improve service delivery to the communities as government has showed that it is committed to listening to our cries," said Longwe.
Prior to 1996, the councils had one salary structure and their conditions of service were determined centrally through negotiations. However, after 1996, a decision was made that the various councils would use the existing salary structure but were given the mandate to determine their own salaries and conditions of service depending on the capacities of the councils to generate revenue, which led to distortions and low basic pay for the workers.
Labels: COUNCILS, SALARIES
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There is no road map for salary negotiations - UNZALARU
By Lovely Kayombo and Namatama Mundia
Sun 01 July 2012, 13:23 CAT
UNIVERSITY of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers Union general secretary Jason Mwanza says there seems to be no road map for salary negotiations between the union and management.
And the lecturers have continued their sit-in protest until management agrees to convene a formal meeting with the union to discuss salary increment proposals. But University of Zambia council chairperson Sherry Thole has appealed to the
lecturers to resume work to ensure that operations at the institution are normalised.
In an interview, Mwanza said for over six years, lecturers' salaries have depleted by 126 percent and the union is trying to negotiate for salaries that will raise what they have already lost.
He said management is being deceptive by publicly announcing that they have given lecturers a salary increment when there is nothing to talk about except for the 10 per cent transport allowance.
Mwanza said management should indicate their annual increase for this year so that negotiations can commence and appreciated the efforts being made by education minister Dr John Phiri in addressing their concerns but demanded truthfulness from technocrats handling the matter of salary increments.
On Wednesday, Dr Phiri said his ministry has settled for a harmonized approach to determine terms and conditions of services to eliminate the disparities in salaries currently prevailing among the three public universities.
UNZA students Tuesday night protested, demanding the immediate re-opening of the institution and improvement of conditions of service for their lecturers who are currently on a go-slow.
And during a meeting with UNZALARU which was also attended by permanent secretary in charge of higher education Dr Patrick Nkanza, Thole urged the lectures to resume their duties taking into account that there were some students who were supposed to go to Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education while others are supposed to go to the school of medicine with over 3,000 students expected to graduate.
"The issues and concerns that had been raised by different unions/associations at UNZA could be discussed in the respective bargaining units while everyone was working," Thole said.
She appealed to UNZALARU to call off their go slow and resume work while
negotiations with management over improved conditions of service were going on.
Thole expressed great concern at the ongoing impasse at the Great East Road campus.
She further urged the lectures to take advantage of good will of government who are actively engaged and ensuring that they facilitate for an enabling teaching and research environment.
Thole added that the government was also going to put in place two technical
committees to propose ways of systematic dismantling of all debt that would accrue up to the end of this year and also to work out a sustainable pension scheme amongst the three public universities and others to come.
She also outlined in detail the steps that the government and management at UNZA had taken to resolve the issue.
Thole explained that government's approval to allow the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education to vary its budget to allow the public universities to negotiate salary increments above the four percent ceiling using the Public Service Pay Policy had resulted in a 14 percent increment in the total wage bill for 2012, following a rationalisation and harmonisation exercise done by the Public Service Management Division (PSMD).
"While harmonisation across the three public universities was initially agreed upon with the unions, PSMD discovered that the exercise needed a lot more time since it required a job evaluation exercise," said Thole.
"The harmonisation process was now going to be phased, taking the vertical harmonisation at UNZA as phase one and the horizontal harmonisation among the three universities as phase two."
Labels: SALARIES, UNZALARU
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Tsvangirai rules out wage freeze
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ruled out a wage freeze for civil servants and insisted the government was still looking at ways of improving salaries for state employees.
State workers have been fighting for a wage increases for much of the year and reacted with fury to reports
Finance Minister Tendai Biti would impose a wage and recruitment freeze in his economic review statement next week.
Biti reportedly hinted at the wage freeze during a special cabinet meeting which discussed the country’s economy as it emerged the 2012 national budget was way off track with revenues falling far below projections.
But Tsvangirai told legislators Wednesday that there was government policy for a wage freeze adding the cabinet was still exploring ways of meeting the demands of state employees.
“I do not know whether the Government has adopted the policy of wage (freeze). There is no such policy,” The MDC-T leader said.
“But let me say that Government is committed to upgrade salaries of civil servants and other Government departments.”
Tsvangirai said while the economy had failed to perform to expectations the Finance Ministry could not take unilateral decisions regarding the salaries of civil servants.
“The issue is if we continue to have an economy which is not performing, we face a fiscal squeeze because the Minister of Finance will always say there is no money,” he said.
“It is malicious to try and blame the Finance Minister alone for those actions. An individual minister cannot make a decision to increase or do otherwise on salaries. It is a collective Cabinet position.
“It is not Tendai Biti’s money, it is Government money and that money is distributed according to budget and Government decisions. In this case, there is no policy position regarding salaries or any increase or otherwise pertaining to civil servants.”
Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES
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Tsvangirai rules out wage freeze
21/06/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has ruled out a wage freeze for civil servants and insisted the government was still looking at ways of improving salaries for state employees.
State workers have been fighting for a wage increases for much of the year and reacted with fury to reports Finance Minister Tendai Biti would impose a wage and recruitment freeze in his economic review statement next week.
Biti reportedly hinted at the wage freeze during a special cabinet meeting which discussed the country’s economy as it emerged the 2012 national budget was way off track with revenues falling far below projections.
But Tsvangirai told legislators Wednesday that there was government policy for a wage freeze adding the cabinet was still exploring ways of meeting the demands of state employees.
“I do not know whether the Government has adopted the policy of wage (freeze). There is no such policy,” The MDC-T leader said.
“But let me say that Government is committed to upgrade salaries of civil servants and other Government departments.”
Tsvangirai said while the economy had failed to perform to expectations the Finance Ministry could not take unilateral decisions regarding the salaries of civil servants.
“The issue is if we continue to have an economy which is not performing, we face a fiscal squeeze because the Minister of Finance will always say there is no money,” he said.
“It is malicious to try and blame the Finance Minister alone for those actions. An individual minister cannot make a decision to increase or do otherwise on salaries. It is a collective Cabinet position.
“It is not Tendai Biti’s money, it is Government money and that money is distributed according to budget and Government decisions. In this case, there is no policy position regarding salaries or any increase or otherwise pertaining to civil servants.”
Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, SALARIES
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