CIVIL servants yesterday threatened to down tools if
government failed to reverse its austerity measures, including partial payment
of bonus and payment of customs duty in foreign currency.
In a joint Press briefing yesterday, Health Services Apex
Council chairperson, Enock Dongo and his civil service counterpart, Cecilia
Alexander, said the situation currently obtaining in the country, particularly
their conditions of service, demanded that government adjusts some of its
policies.
This came at a time the economic situation in the country
is worsening, forcing many companies to rationalise and turn to desperate means
of survival.
“The Health and Civil Servants Apex Council jointly demand
for a revision of some of the 2019 budget proposals by the Minister of
Finance,” Alexander said.
“It is our position that any further move to implement the
said proposals will certainly cause disharmony between ourselves and the
employer and may in the end defeat the government’s well-intentioned objective
to stabilise the economy.”
She said they were not consulted on the budget, a violation
of Section 65 of the Constitution which guarantees government employees the
right to consult and be consulted.
“The decision to pay a bonus based on basic salary is
unacceptable to us and amounts to a withdrawal of a benefit, much against the
law. The same applies to the 5% cut on the salaries of senior civil servants,”
Alexander said.
Civil servants also demanded salaries in foreign currency
and an adjustment to the cost of living allowances.
“If workers are going to pay duty in forex, it follows that
salaries should be paid in forex. This proposal on forex will have the effect
of excluding civil servants from buying vehicles and some foodstuffs. Our salaries
are in RTGS (real time gross settlement), customs duty is in US dollar. If we
convert our salaries to US dollar on the parallel market we get jailed for 10
years,” Alexander said.
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