The association’s chairperson, Nellie Mkhumba and publicity secretary, Ben Mitochi
* As Government is withholding their pension benefits which is greatly affecting the retired civil servants’ economic livelihoods
* They are failing to access the most basic medical care now that they are old and prone to various type of sicknesses and in desperate need of life-saving medication
* Fail to feed their families more especially now that the country is facing acute food shortage and they can’t be included for relief maize
* Children dropping out of school for lack of school fees and families disintegrating because their spouses and children believe they already received their pension benefits
By Duncan Mlanjira
The association of retired civil servants in Malawi is demanding the Government to pay their gratuities with interests, which it has been withholding to those who retired from 2022 to 2025 by end of August 2025 — failing which they would be forced take stiffer action such as seeking Court intervention or to conduct non-stop vigils at Capital Hill in Lilongwe from September 2 until all gratuities are duly paid.
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A press statement was presented at a press briefing today at Ministry of Information conference room in Blantyre, where the leadership of the association, chairperson, Nellie Mkhumba, secretary Catherine Bandawo and publicity secretary, Ben Mitochi highlighted that the continued withholding of their pension benefits is greatly affecting their economic livelihoods.
They maintain that this government inaction to honour its part “has brought untold suffering and misery among innocent pensioners”, which include:
* failure to access the most basic medical care now that they are old and prone to various type of sicknesses and in desperate need of life saving medication;
* failure to feed themselves and their families more especially now that the country is facing acute food shortage and we can’t be included for relief maize;
* children dropping out of school for lack of school fees and families disintegrating because their partners and children believe they already received their pension benefits; and
* the constant devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha making their pension benefits worthless.
“Several efforts have been made by directors of the association to pursue Treasury to pay gratuities to all eligible pensioners fallen within the recommended time frame of three months after retirement date as stipulated in the Pension Act.
“The Association treats this matter with seriousness and urgency of action, but it is shameful that the government kept on giving false promises — like borrowing K100 billion to pay off all gratuities but done very little leaving majority not paid to date.
“We are tired of these empty promises and angry that the benefits of our members are being used to finance other unimportant government expenditure.”
The pensioners
While commending the government for its open door policy, the retired civil servants contend that is has not yielded their desired results — thus pained by their suffering and miserable life being faced by the innocent pensioners, they “shall take the stiff action if their grievances are not answered within the specified period”.
They are also asking if the the leadership of the association can be granted an audience with President Lazarus Chakwera to present their demands, which include the government to consider paying the delayed pensions with interests due to devaluation.
They are also amplifying the establishment of the association, which has been registered and invites donors to financially support it, so as to enable them meet the welfare of old citizens.
They are also asking the government, to consider changing the Pension Act to allow pensioners get half (30 months) of the money paid to the deceased to be given to the pensioner.
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They thus appeal to pensioners who are not yet members of the association to join them to share ways on how they can move forward as a united entity to address many social challenges the silver gray citizens face.
Publicity secretary, Mitochi added that they will name and shame officers that solicit bribes from the retirees in exchange for service — describing the situation as disheartening
“We tried to contact the Budget Director, the Account General, the Parliamentary Committee on Social Warfare and all departments responsible for pensions but have borne no fruits,” he said. “As such, within two months we will involve international human rights organisations and the media to amplify our struggles and the bad treatment we are getting,” he said.
He added that K193.17 billion which was allocated for pensioners in the 2024-2025 budget is not enough to be paid to retirees considering that pensioners are many totalling 6,857 and the majority of them are expected to receive the sum of K20 million to K100 million each.
In a separate interview, one of the 2021 retirees, Daniel Machine, said the government should clear out all outstanding gratuities since they are exacerbating the suffering of many retirees.
He added that the delay is leading to misunderstanding in most families as some family members believe that the retiree had already received pension benefits and used them at the expense of the family.
“I was supposed to receive my pension benefits within three months from the day I retired but now almost three years has gone which is contrary to the Pension Act,” Machine said.
He added that investing and empowering pensioners can contribute to the economic development of the country through business which can create jobs.—Additional reporting by Petro Mkandawire, MANA
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