Malawi SDNP: Education in Malawi

The Council of the University of Malawi wishes to remind all Staff and Stakeholders that in January 2006 Government directed that salary, housing allowance and professional allowance be combined to constitute a "clean" salary or wage. In addition Government approved an increase of 60% to all academic staff and 45% to other staff effective from January 2006. This was done following the Government-sponsored consultancy report by Ernst & Young on remuneration in the University compared to other universities in the region.

That report identified, inter alia, anomalies within the UNIMA staff salary and wage scales as well as variances, both positive and negative, compared to other universities in the region. The report also cautioned that the variances were a reflection of differences in the size of economies in the countries concerned and that any salary revisions should be affordable as may be sanctioned by Government. In addition, the consultants recommended that the introduction of any salary increase should be premised on a detailed Job Evaluation, Grading and Performance Management system.

While action was being followed up on these recommendations, albeit slow on account of inadequate resources, the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union (CCASU) and the Polytechnic Academic Staff Committee on Welfare (PASCOW) embarked on industrial action in October, 2007 demanding a 200% salary increase. Following this development the University Council and representatives of Staff Unions and Associations held seven meetings between the 8th of November, 2007 and 15th February, 2008 to address two issues. The first was to come up with an agreement to govern the negotiations between the two parties. The second issue was to deal with the demand by the Unions and Associations for a 200% salary increase.

However, as negotiations proceeded, Government sanctioned in November 2007 a 20% salary increase with effect from July 2007 but on condition that the University funds it from its own current budget. This was initially, rejected by the Unions and Associations but was later accepted and implemented with effect from July, 2007 although with a negative impact on the operations budget at College level. Surprisingly, and against this background, CCASU called for another industrial action on 7th February, 2008 in spite of an existing Court injunction restraining them from doing so. PASCOW followed suit. Consequently, the University Council was compelled to institute contempt of court proceedings to enforce the injunction. The remaining Colleges continued to operate normally.

During the unfolding impasse, an ad hoc Committee of Professors and Deans of Chancellor College initiated a mediation process that finally proposed the need to conclude a "Consent Order". The Consent Order was successfully negotiated and agreed upon by Council and the Staff Unions and Associations compelling the former to withdraw the contempt of court case and the latter to call off industrial action and resume work, thereby paving the way for continuation of negotiations.

Fresh negotiations commenced on 28th April, 2008 and so far four meetings have taken place. The University Council, guided by the 2008-09 budgetary ceiling from Government, offered a 20% salary increase across the board over and above the 20% that Government approved in July, 2007. However, Staff Unions and Associations insisted on the implementation of a report commissioned as Phase II of the Ernst & Young recommendations (now called the "Kamwaza Report") that proposed what computes as an average increase of 30% on current salaries. In addition, the Unions and Associations demanded an additional 40% increase as well as a road-map to implement a 200% salary increase by 2012.

This revised demand translates into more than 200% salary increase by 2012 and is in total disregard of the base year of 2005 on which Ernst and Young recommended an initial increase of 30% that was revised upwards by Government to 60% for academics and 45% for other staff. As a matter of record neither Government nor the University Council has ever agreed to a 200% salary increase besides the fact that it never featured in the consultancy report as a recommendation for implementation.

Normally the University requires a budgetary allocation of 65% towards emoluments and 35% towards operations which include students' food and welfare, teaching resources, utilities, etc. If the scenarios opted for and demanded by the Staff Unions and Associations were implemented, an average of 90% of the university budget would go towards emoluments leaving only 10% for operations. The situation would be worse than this for some Colleges since the resultant operations budget would fluctuate between 2% for Bunda and 7% each for Chancellor College, College of Medicine and the Polytechnic. Such a reduction in the operations budget would paralyze the operations of the University and this would be tantamount to accepting that the University should close down. Council considers such an eventuality as unacceptable and as a violation of the rights of the students and also views this as jeopardizing the noble and vital role the University plays in the development of the nation.

Issued by:

Council of the University of Malawi

Appeared in Daily Times of 18 June 2008