President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has turn down a proposal to have Ministers and Deputy Ministers terms and conditions of services revised.denies

A leaked communication which Faceofmalawi have in possession, from the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) signed by Chief Secretary to the Government, Willie Samute, shows that Mutharika has rejected the proposal, saying; “ the government is not ready to neither amend nor revise the terms of service as proposed.

In a letter dated August 20,2014 Samute, among other things proposed that that Mutharika should approve a raise of a full minister’s salary from the current K600,000 to K3.5 million a month, while that of a deputy minister should rise from K428, 000 to K3 million.

This according to the memo, will, in turn, increase the gratuity of a Minister and a Deputy Minister who serves for a continuous period of five years from K9, 000,000 and K6, 420,000 to K52, 500.000 and K45, 000,000 respectively.

The letter says apart from the piecemeal changes over the past years, the terms and conditions of service for ministers and their deputies have never been reviewed comprehensively since 2009.

“Your Excellency, during the past five years, the country has experienced several price adjustments of goods and services which have contributed to the dwindling of the value of almost all the benefits and other entitlements for Ministers and Deputy Minsters,” reads the letter in part.

Apart from the K3.5 million salary, Samute also proposed that government should raise their housing rental entitlements from K170, 000 to K300, 000 and K150, 000 to K280, 000 for Deputy Ministers.