Mr. Chikwanda said by the time government finishes the discussions to come up with a properly structured salary arrangement, it will not even be noticed that 14 months has already elapsed.
He said the wage moratorium was only meant for 2014 and 2015 and that his plea to the trade unions representing the civil service is for them to realize that government’s action is also a function of resource availability.
Mr Chikwanda said that going forward the Patriotic Front government wants to correct structural imbalances where 70 percent of the national budget goes towards emoluments and related factors.
He says running government in such way is irresponsible and an abdication of responsibility to posterity.
And Mr. Chikwanda has disclosed that government has no current intentions of borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because the country’s internal and external balance is very good and government intends to maintain it that way.
He said this is why in the 2015 national budget, government has indicated that it will ensure that budget deficits do not exceed 4.5 percent.Mr. Chikwanda was speaking to journalists this morning shortly after he opened a post budget workshop organized by the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in collaboration with Fredrick Ebert Stiftung (FES).
Speaking earlier during the official opening of the workshop, ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba called for genuine sacrifice to be seen to affect all who draw emoluments from the treasury including constitutional office holders.
Mr. Hikaumba said his union is concerned that the 2015 budget shows no efforts towards extending the tax base in order to provide tax relief to workers.
He has since urge government through the Ministry of Finance to take concrete steps towards economic diversification and at the same time develop alternative policy measures that will promote expansion of the tax base.
People want salary increments that are not accompanied by an increase in economic activity. the high cost of living we are experiencing today is partly as a result of such a process. viva wage freeze
This Government would have been liquidated long before had it been a private Company. Extremely immoral to spend 70% of the Nations budget just on emoluments, when then do you develop.
With such scenario I propose a wage freeze to all government workers till 2026.
MR CHIKWANDA IS 100% RIGHT. THE WAGE FREE MUST CONTINUE AND AS HE SAID IT IS A SMALL SACRIFICE INDEED. UNFORTUNATELY, TRADE UNION LEADERS IN OUR COUNTRY, ZAMBIA ARE VERY ILLITERATE TO UNDERSTAND SUCH ECONOMIC IMPLICATION ON WAGE FREEZE OR INDISCRIMINATE WAGE INCREMENTS. AS HE POINTED OUT NEGOTIATIONS OF THE WAY FORWARD WILL TAKE ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS THE PERIOD OF WAGE FREEZE. SO, THE TRADE UNIONS SHOULD HOLD THEIR FIRE AND LET THE GOVT WORKOUT MODALITIES OF A BETTER WAGE STRUCTURE THAT TRIES TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN PRIVATE COMPANIES WAGES AND THAT OF CIVIL SERVANTS. DON’T LIFT THE WAGE FREEZE.
You are very right. Viva wage freeze.
THESE POLITICAL FOSSILS ARE ENJOYING EVERYTHING FOR FREE..THE REASON WHY THEY DON’T FEEL THE HIT ON CIVIL SERVANTS
We are in celebratory mood this week….
Bring up this issues of salaries is just out-of-order. People need to be happy atleast once a week… not these PF daily sad announcements :
– Ba Sata is out for medical fimofimo
– A child is found tied to a tree, and PF asking for well-wishers
– No no no salary changes, not even cutting down salaries of ministers.
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After I win that LT prize next week, I will come back with a bang and take out 2 more PF ministers. You remember when I took it personal to arrest Kabimba? Most of you PF have short memories.
Do you even know what you are talking about? Viva wage freeze.
The Government is supposed to conform to the will of the people and not people conforming to the will of the government.
That is the true meaning of democracy.
They are because we are.
Tamwishibe efyo mulelanda. Viva Chikwanda, viva wage freeze.
I am not an economist and neither am I a financial person, but I see sense in what Mr. Chikwanda is saying. But if you can also reduce on unnecessary government spending especially on the part of the top government officials. Ministers should also have their wages frozen for the same period.
I am not PF by the way.
YOU DON’T NEED TO BE PF IN ORDER TO SEE SENSE IN WHAT A PF LEADER IS SAYING. I SUPPORT YOU. THERE’S A LOT OF ECONOMIC SENSE IN WHAT CHIKWANDA IS SAYING. I EQUALLY SUPPORT YOU ON PUBLIC SPENDING ESPECIALLY ON TOP LEADERS. I DON’T KNOW IF IT IS STILL THE CASE WHERE MINISTERS HAVE 2 TO 4 PERSONAL TO HOLDER VEHICLES IN ZAMBIA. THIS AND OTHER LAVISH SPENDING MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY IF IT IS STILL PRACTICED. MINISTERS AND MPs’ SALARIES MUST ALSO FACE THE SAME FATE OF WAGE/SALARY FREEZE.
The wage bill on top government officials is to high.70 cabinet ministers,hospital bills,trips…… You are comfortable up there so you don’t feel heat.
Question: Is PF in the right direction?
ON THIS ONE I AGREE WITH CHIKWANDA, WE HAVE LESS THAN 500,000 WORKS GETTING 70% OF THE BUDGET WHAT OF THE 13.5 MILLION ZAMBIANS WHAT DO THEY GET FROM THERE GOVERNMENT JUST 30% ITS NOT FAIR FOR CIVIL SERVANTS TO DEMAMND FOR MORE, WHEN ALREADY THEY GET MORE. LOOK AT THEIR SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES ITS SO HIGH MORE THAN THE PEOPLE WHO WORK HARD AND PAY TAXES.
LET 50% GO FOR SALARIES AND 50% FOR DEVLOPMENT WORK FOR MAJORITY TO BENEFIT.
No No Nooooooooo lifting of wage freeze during election year!This must be the slogan of all uncorruptable civil servants & political players in Zambia!Hikaumba already out of the ring box!Sorry to Gullible Civil Servants-they have been betrayed already!Anyway this coming financial year will be very hard to Civil Servants as union leaders were already backed off.With the rising cost of living in Zambia this may be the worst experience ever because the disparities in incomes between top civl servants/ministers & lowly poorly paid civil servant is very big.
I totally agree with you minister, financial discipline is very important. Now stretch the same to constitutional office bearers
Where are those monkeys who were saying they will protest? There you have it,ABC has told you straight in your face. Let’s see how you are going to react you morons or was it another talk without action? Protest if you’ve got balls. Chi Mwaba na ka Hikaumba are useless *****s who are scared of pamafi. They should take a leaf from Vavi and Cosatu.
Lets work on cost of production so that prices do not go up. Responsible ministers sit down with MTN AIRTEL & DSTV their pricings are too high
VIVA ABC! Increament for what? Hikaumba(ZCTU) your Teachers produced more GCE results than School Certificates last yr despite 40% pay rise. Abolish unionism and engage the *****s on contracts.
If the PF would move the country forward for everyone, it would:
– Nationalize or heavily tax the mines so that most taxes come from there
After all, the country’s natural resources already belong to everyone in the country collectively. They don’t belong to the President or Finance Minister, and certainly not to Glencore and Vedanta.
– Build The Economy
Invest in infrastructure, human capital, agriculture and manufaturing.
– Accountable Government
There would be a continuous dialogue between the citizens, CSOs and the state, over best practices, complaints, etc.
In other words, more democracy.