As debate continues on 2014/15 national budget presented on Tuesday by Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe at Parliament in Lilongwe, pegged at over MK700 billion.

Civil Servants Trade Union (CSTU) and Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) have jointly denied the proposed 24 percent pay hike, saying it is not the true reflection of their discussions with the Government Negotiating Team (GNT) ahead of the budget.

During the budget presentation, Gondwe said: “The recurrent budget includes an amount of K163.3 billion for wages and salaries. This is 24.4 percent higher than last financial year’s provision for wages and salaries. Honourable members will, therefore, note that this year’s average wage increase is proposed to be 24.4 percent”.

Speaking in an interview, TUM Secretary General Denis Kalekeni said:”We are not going to accept it. The percentage which we proposed was above 24 percent, but what has come out is what they [government] wanted. We did not reject it, but we gave them a counter-offer which we expected them to consider as well and strike a compromise”.

The unions had also asked the GNT, which comprises principal secretaries (PSs) for Finance and Human Resources Management, to segment the salary increase so that those in higher grades do not receive a similar percentage increment as those in lower grade.

Concurring with Kalekeni, CSTU president Servace Sakala said the union would only be happy after government adopts a living wage which he admitted was not sustainable in the present state of the economy.