Chief Justice Ernest Sakala has prodded the newly appointed commissioners of the Salaries Review Commission to harmonise discrepancies in salaries, benefits and conditions of service for Civil Servants in the country.
Justice Sakala said the commissioners must ensure that Civil Service workers who were the country’s backbone were appreciated by awarding them with better salaries and condition of services.Justice Sakala said this at the Supreme Court today when he swore in 15 commissioners to be sitting on the Salaries Review Commission.
He said there had been great amount of discrepancies in salaries and other conditions within the Public Service especially that while some were getting low salaries others in the same service others were getting much better salaries.He said this had raised questions among staff in the civil service.
“There has been great amount of discrepancies in salaries, conditions and benefits within the public service. At times when asked by our staff, why their salaries are so low while others in the same public where getting much better salaries we fail to answer other than agree with them. It is not uncommon that certain civil servants are receiving salaries in US dollars while others with same qualifications are receiving salaries in Kwacha” he said
He said awarding civil servants with good salaries and conditions of services would help fight corruption as they would be deterred from temptations of graft and misappropriation of public funds.Justice Sakala said the civil servants would be very expectant of what the Commission would ultimately recommend to them.
Among the notable persons on the Commission are; Copperbelt University (CBU) Chancellor Professor Muyunda Mwanalushi, Former Chief Justice Matthew Ngulube, Public Service Management Division (PSMD)’s George Kawatu, and Zambia Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) Secretary General Roy Mwaba.
Others are Danny Longwe, Nana Mudenda, Edgar Imasiku, Danny Musenge, Yuyi Libakeni, Japheth Msimuko, Mabvuto Sakala, Meamui Kongwa, Redson Lusale, Lloyd Sichilongo, and Professor Mutale Chanda from the University of Zambia (UNZA).
The last salary review commission was done in 1993.
election time….yaba
The chief justice looks like a very tired man i think retirement is calling.
#1 you are 100% right, election time. What else do you expect from these characters. Only God knows
Political tricks!!!!
Any way its good for the poor police officers. At last they are being considered. But Vote wisely!!!!!
What Salary Commission people please,these guys will be getting heft allowance,but you will be shocked how much they will give civil servants 15 percent,,wait and see.They all know much a policeman and a messenger gets..
Under the Industrial and Labour relations Act Chapter 269 of the laws of Zambia, the Unions are mandated to enter into collective bargaining to negotiate for improved conditions of service (except for the defence, police, prisons, ZISS and senior judicial officers).
Is this not a duplication of the Tripartite Consultative Labour Council which will also increase costs through allowances to the commissioners?
What then is the purpose of having the Civil Servants Union of Zambia, a compromised and toothless Union, instead of just having this “Salaries Review Commission” sitting every 10 – 20 years to review civil servants conditions of service?
What would be of great value to the employees is to strengthen the Articles of the Labour relations to create a level bargaining field.
The Commission should address the discrepancies in Ministries like Education where officer that belong to the Public Service have lower salaries than those of the Teaching service. For example, a Human Resource Officer with a three year diploma from Evely Hone gets half the salary of a Basic School Head with a certifate. A Planning Officer with a degree in Economics gets less than a Head with a certificate. The commission should quickly address these anormallies.
Why now? Why not all these past years! Anyway if this is being done in good faith then it is welcome! Another point I want to bring out is that civil servants should be recruited regularly in a transparent manner through qualifying exams and interviews. Here in India civil servants are recruited every year to fill up vacant positions through the Public service commission which conducts competitive exams.This ensures that people of high calibre are recruited and the government also rewards them handsomely! Civil service jobs are most sought after jobs here!
The Chief Justice himself reached retirement age 10 years ago. He is talking about descrepancies in salaries and nothing about increament here. This TOURIST PRESIDENT is busy borrowing, he can’t generate enough Money from the Mines and can’t even pay them on time due to lack of funds, just read between the lines. We need a complete revolution in this Country and increase the salaries to reflect what is happening on the ground.
Please retire Justice….u , SATA and RB
Leave HH, Milupi and Chipimo
Please
#11 who told you that Sata should retire? Retire yoourself if you want to. He has to rule and bring back sanity in this country, especially with investors. Walibombapo mu mine iwe? Do you know how much work goes on in thier, how much work we are subjected to for very low wages/salaries. We dig resources God graciously gave to us and our children and watch all the proceeds fly out of the country while ”expatriate riggers” get DOLLARS. And I know alot of Zambians in similar profitable companies go through the same, and yet trampled upon even by their government. They stop work to ask for better conditions, govt locks them up. Sata has never worked in the mines but he speaks like one who has, makes all the sense in this world to us! None other gives us that much hope! Viva SATA.
That’s a very good point.
pple know how to create jobs for themselves mwe
# 7 Mule, They are talking about discrepancies in salaries of public service workers and not collective bargaining which is the responsibility of trade unions. They should be considering qualifications and experience of workers. For example, an accountant ( professionally qualified) at a particular ministry and another working for say National Assembly should have the same conditions of service. In short, one particular wing of government should not seem to be more superior to the other in terms of conditions of service.
But why use the same team that reviewed the last commission headed by Prof Mwanalushi?
I’V STARTED TO AGREE WITH PEOPLE WHOSAY THAT ZAMBIANS ARE CONFUSED PEOPLE,WHY DO WE ALWAYS SET UP NEW ORGANISATIONS EVERY TIME WE WANT TO DO SOMETHING. WHY WHY WHY THERE WAS CRC KWAISA NCC NOW THIS SALARIES COMMISSION. WHY CANT WE JUST EMPOWER THE EXISTING ORGANS LIKE THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR. WE MADE A MISTAKE BY GETTING INDEPENDENCE LET’S JUST CALL BACK DAVID CAMERON TO COME AND RULE US PANTU TWALIFILWA FWEBENE.
I reckon the proposed salary review is a good thing. BUT I hope they do a proper analysis on the impact this may have on jobs and inflation. It’s shouldn’t just be an affirmative action aimed at appeasing voters, without looking closely at the impact it may cause on the various variables of the economy. The implementation part of it is just as important. Just like anything in Zambia, it’s the implementation which fails us. We have good laws which are never implemented properly.
Also they should plug a cap to a lot of allowances and per diems. Managers spend more than 50% of their time travelling and sitting in meetings and conferences and then claim huge sums of money in per diems for doing work within their job description. Productivity is an issue that also needs addressing.