FINANCE Minister Alexander Chikwanda has refuted reports that Government will effect arbitral removal of allowances negotiated through collective bargaining with trade unions.
Mr Chikwanda has instead reiterated that conditions of service allowances which are sanctioned through collective bargaining processes are only adjustable through established consultative processes as stipulated by relevant laws and regulations.
Mr Chikwanda said Government was in the process of reviewing administrative allowances sanctioned outside the collective bargaining framework, which Secretary to the Cabinet Roland Msiska has supported.
Mr Chikwanda said this in a statement released by Ministry of Finance public relations officer, Chileshe Kandeta in Lusaka today.
Below is the full statement
MINISTER ALEXANDER CHIKWANDA ON REMOVAL OF ALLOWANCES IN GOVERNMENT
Lusaka, Sunday, 16th June, 2013. Reports attributed to Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda that Government will effect arbitral removal of allowances negotiated through collective bargaining with unions are misplaced and should be ignored with the contempt they deserve.
The Minister has instead reiterated that conditions of service allowances which are sanctioned through collective bargaining processes are only adjustable through established consultative processes as stipulated by relevant laws and regulations.
Mr. Chikwanda has also confirmed that Government is in the process of reviewing administrative allowances sanctioned outside the collective bargaining framework. Secretary to the Cabinet Dr. Roland Msiska has supported the stance taken by the Minister.
The Minister said this will done through implementation of an integrated strategy for improvement of conditions of service, whose goal will be to rationalize the circumstances under which remunerative administrative allowances are payable and to foster a more responsible and financially sustainable approach to utilization of public resources.
He said the process of reviewing administrative allowances has been necessitated by Governments concern that workers, retirees and ordinary members of the public who travel from all over Zambia to seek services from certain public institutions are sometimes made to wait for days or weeks to be attended to just because officials responsible for helping them are constantly attending events which have incentives such as administrative allowances.
The background to this matter is that, on a tour of projects in Mongu last week on Friday, one of the reasons advanced for delays in implementing Governments’ development programmes was that some public service workers were spending too much time in workshops and seminars at the expense of coordinating and overseeing the speedy implementation of projects. During a courtesy call, the Barotse Royal Establishment, in a statement read on behalf of His Majesty the Litunga, also expressed concern at the slow pace at which development programmes were being implemented in the province.
The Minister of Finance could not ignore the concern of the BRE as it was a confirmation of reports which the Government has been receiving through monitoring and evaluation activities whereby it has been recorded that there is a growing tendency by some public service workers to TRANSFORM AND MUTATE routine and ordinary office/station work for which they get salaries on a monthly basis, into special assignments that are shipped out to incessant workshop and seminar settings, whose underlying inducement are administrative allowances for attendees and organizers.
Mr. Chikwanda has strongly appealed that instead of chasing workshops and seminars, public service workers should render focused attention to development programmes through timely, efficient and effective implementation of projects which will deliver jobs and poverty reduction for the majority of Zambians.
The Minister has also appealed for the support of the unions and their members in ending workshop related fiscal irresponsibility in Government especially that most of them do not even benefit from the administrative allowances in question. He has reaffirmed that the PF Government has a responsibility to deliver development to the people and to look after workers in the best possible way.
Mr. Chikwanda restated his deep concern with the proliferation of fiscal irresponsibility to the extent that funds meant for development programmes are sometimes channeled to workshops and seminars at the expense of job creation, poverty reduction, and the general social-well-being of the people of Zambia.
Although the anxiety is understood, it was premature and a clear case of disregard for consultation for some union leaders to wantonly misinform the public about the stand of Government on allowances by issuing condemnation statements without seeking clarification from the Minister of Finance, to whom the comments on removal of allowances were attributed.
ISSUED BY:
Chileshe Kandeta
Public Relations Officer
Ministry of Finance
Reference Notes
The goal of the Integrated Strategy for Improvement of Conditions of Service is to harmonize and rationalize salaries and conditions of service across all three arms of Government in a financially sustainable manner in order to facilitate the recruitment and retention of highly motivated and productive staff.
The strategy also aims at having a transparent compensation system which addresses vertical and horizontal inequalities in the compensation structure and compares well with what is obtaining in the public service in the region and the private sector in the country.
Hahahahahah.
So i havent missed anything? same old stories, only missed you bloggers, i guess you know who it is, they blocked me for my honest opnion, wonders will never cease! ngefi ndeumfwa ati you have started killing your own is it true?
Namufilwa Yama!
Did anyone read all that ? Did he have to write that long, another sign that the Ministry of Finance don’t need a PR. Why have such a department when in fact Government spokes person, Sakeni, can give a better press releases even from his hospital ward?
Bravo !!! its about time -every time l phone one relative he is always at a seminar in livingstone
Workshops ,seminars, AU and SADC meetings ; have never produced fruit.
Useless PF government, UBUFI!
You thought you were clever when you were stuffing Zambia’s diplomatic missions with hordes of your ill qualified relatives and tribesmen. Some missions which had a staff compliment of 20 have even been tripled to 60. How about the over 80 Ministers and Deputy Ministers? Not forgetting 3 Permanent Secretaries in each Ministers. There’s nothing like a money tree on which money grows dear PF. It is Zambians who have to pay for your mismanagement!
Well done! Every 6 weeks when I travel to Zed for work there is always a GRZ/NGO workshop at the lodge I always stay. There are times I find them there and leave there still attending the workshop.
So you are afraid of the complaint from Barosteland, you thought you can buy the LITUNGA so cheaply with rebased useless kwacha? Monkeys will sweat blood over Barosteland , it is real , it is an international agreement guided by international law as contained in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties- the right to self determination – read what constitutes a state?
Aruta continua with Barosteland
A monkey mocking a monkey…I guess it’s true there is a master race out there, and it ain’t from the monkey continent.
As an ordinary civil servant, I am not aware of any significant so called “Administrative Allowances”, noting that sitting allowances were removed long time ago. Government should in stead look at the disproportionate remuneration of those privileged to be appointed into super scales such as P/Secretariats, District Commissioners, etc; most of who are just mere cadres from the streets, who do not even know the scent of a college classroom.
Dear Minister,
if you think this will serve money then you are in the wrong direction.Workers can not monitor projects outside there families and you say that is routine work.
Moreover,these workshops are brought due to the new technologies and updates.
As government you have failed to sent grants to government institutions,this is June and only three grants have been sent,then how can you implement projects without funding.
Are you confirming that we have a budget overrun within 6 months in the first PF budget?
Solution reduce the number of ministers,Permanent secretaries and the number of districts been created and the numerous bye-elections.
otherwise,these are signs of inadequate planning on part of PF
This country! I just wonder if it will ever develop.The so-called senior civil servants are always out for workshops,tours,etc,leaving office work unattended to.
Good idea to suggest removal of thoz allowances.MINISTER,I SALUTE U!
Every day, everyone is issuing convulated statements and everything. How does the average citizen keep up?
Zambia has no issue or problem with money scarcity per se.Our biggest problem is poor attitudes,poor work ethic and poor governance where resources are abused.If i were the country of zambia i’d only ask God for the right attitude and he can take away our copper.Afterall Sweden,Japan & Swiss don’t have any mineral wealth but they are rich in the right attitudes that make their wealthy status a possibility.
it is the Chikwanda economics.If the economy becomes weak and the currency depreciates,just kock off three zeros and pretent you have solved the problem.What a load of rubbish
it is the Chikwanda economics.If the economy becomes weak and the currency depreciates,just kock off three zeros and pretend you have solved the problem.What a load of rubbish.Remember those people you cheated that you will solve their problems within 90days know that you can’t.The cotton wool is off the eyes and they can now see.
…and the heat becomes too much ,they fail to explain ,they accuse MMD !Hopeless AIDS ASSOCIATED DEMENTIA chaps!
Well folks that’s what you get when YOUR vote puts these past sell by date individuals in power. The country is a mess, it needs to be shut down pronto!!! Next time don’t vote because some miserable kwacka’s.
bufi, boza, buhata, ulabeja. when they deny just know it’s true.
This is progressive .Actually civil servants consume about a third of Zambia.s budget and yet they are not even 600 thousand.How can a small population take more than half of the country,s wealth. RB talked about it but never acted which shows he was not courageous enough.I indicated earlier that Mr Sata could shame critics at the end of 5 years.Simply put Mr sata is evenly distributing wealth.
A.M
Ba concerned, you write good english, meaning you are not a kaponya. And yet you are a blind supporter of the worst govt Zambia has ever seen. It can only mean you are Bemba, using tribalism instead of objectivity to judge what’s going on.
I am retired civil servant after 32years service in the first, second,third republics. Was Head of Dept at Provincial level. Because we were honest products of first republic we worked without stealing and have remained paupers but still on meagre life pension able to buy only a newspaper every day per month to be well informed, while remaining malnourised but patrotic supporter of the Government of the day in keeping with faithful traits or habits learnt from the first republic. Allowances are modern ways of stealing public money by any one eligible from the Leadership through to workers. Unfortunately,it is not every civil servant who has ever received allowances except few clever and lucky ones. They have built mansions, alas most die before they habitate them. Shame!