By Ed-Grant Ndoza, MANA
Mzuzu City Council employees, who have been on a four-week sit-in to force the Council to pay them their four months wages, are set to resume work on Monday, May 18.
Workers Union president Typen Kamanga said the workers have decided to resume work following the Council’s pledge to start paying employees whose grades are between A and D.
Workers Union president Typen Kamanga
Kamanga said the union has decided to call off the sit-in following the resolution which was agreed upon on Wednesday between the union and Council authorities.
“The resolution was made during a meeting which was attended by officials from the Council secretariat, the union leaders and a delegation from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development,” he said.
Advertisement
The meeting, chaired by the Ministry’s Principal Secretary, Charles Kalemba agreed to suspend the sit-in as the Council assured the workers that it will start paying the wages to some of the employees in phases.
“We will go back to work as the Council continues to mobilize more revenue which can carter for the rest of the workers,” Kamanga said.
Mzuzu City Council public relations officer, McDonald Gondwe said they have been given K51 million as support to meet the employees’ wages.
Because of the strike waste management was
neglected
“Our locally generated resources cannot meet the employees’ four months wage bill, which is around K200 million,” Gondwe said.
He also said lack of prudence in resource management by some secretariat staff is another factor which makes the Council face challenges in paying its employees.
He blamed low revenue generation on demonstrations which were staged by Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which he said impacted negatively on the Council’s operations including tax collection.
Coronavirus alert
“Demonstrations paralyzed our operations. Our clients became so uncooperative to pay taxes in times of demonstrations,” he said.
The Council’s only economic survival are plots of land which it is offering for sale to sort out its financial woes.
The Council has a total number of 360 direct employees.
During the strike, many services stalled including waste management that posed a great health risk.