ID Registration officers demand immediate pay for breach of contract
Irate National Registration Officers , who were deployed to various registration centres in Zomba stormed the District Commissioner’s office on Monday following reported delay in retrieving them after they had finished their assigned task.
According to one of the officers, who opted for anonymity, their employer, Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC), is playing hide and seek because earlier in the month, it was rumoured that some of the Registration Officers will not proceed to the fifth phase, which covers the Northern Region of the country.
This he said is a gimmick that the employer is using to have them retrenched. He, therefore, said PWC did not follow the required procedure in retrenching them.
“Our signed contract stipulated that we are supposed to work in 28 districts of the country and other places and that the exercise is nationwide, which means we are supposed to work up to end of November.
“We hit the target even before the agreed period because the centres were just close to each other,”’ lamented one of the officers.
However, it was just reported to them through SMSs that there will be a reduction of registration teams and that the retrenched teams would get their retrenchment packages after a successful completion of their task, which has not been the case.
The officers explained that it is surprising to note that some of their colleagues were retrieved from the centres leaving others behind unceremoniously.
Later in the afternoon, an official from UNDP, which is one of the donors visited the District Commissioner’s office while on monitoring exercise, tried to cool down the highly charged officers but to no avail.
The officials continued to plead with them that they would get a gratuity of MK250, 000 and not MK 18, 000 as some of the officers who went at the warehouse were forced to signed out and surrender the Biometric Registration Kits (BRKs) as end of the contract.
It was also reported that at a certain centre, a 32-seater bus was sent just to pick two out of ten officers and deploy them to the northern region.
Asked on the criterion used for the fifth phase retrieval, the Assistant District Registrar (ADR) for Zomba was tongue tied on the matter.
Reports from other quarters indicated that some centres were filled with unskilled Registration Officers, which were hired after the recruitment process was done and that they were not on merit but using dubious means.
Meanwhile the officers are still gathered at the District Commissioner’s office in Zomba demanding full details on the way forward of their agreed contract and pay-slips, which have never been given since the commencement of the project.
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Employees of the National Statistical Office (NSO) should have been mandated to carried out this UNDP funded exercise. After all these employees are well versed with the registration based on population census exercise. As for the payment, these workers would have been understanding as they would exercised patience knowing they would be paid later on. If anything, the National Registration Bureau (NRB) should have existed as a mere section within the NSO. So far, the exercise carried out by NRB in one or two districts leaves a lot to be desired. Foreigners were aided by unpatriotic Malawians mostly corrupt traditional… Read more »
some one surely should be answerable the logistics used was so pathetic sick,frail,old people ,pregnant women were all put together .in the north it was even worse some staff were so slow as if they started learning right at the centre, supervisors or law enforcers were not even available.i wonder if this serious process will reap the much required outcome.
The behaviour bu malawigovernemtn is disgusting. There’s no prudence and honesty in this government. How can public workers demand pay as if the money is coming from somebody’s pocket? Was this program not budgeted for? If so, where is the money ??? It’s is so shambolic to hear civil servants are not getting paid in time. This is happening while stupid politicians like Nakhumwa are waxing rich . Where are they getting obey from while people are getting unpaid.
Malawians never learn orbit is out of ignorance. Do not vote for this government again. Atipusitsa akungoba ndalama.