News / National
Govt to restore monthly skills retention allowances
14 Jan 2014 at 06:19hrs | Views
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday said government will restore monthly skills retention allowances for critical staff in various ministries and departments.
Retention allowances of between US$150 and US$400 for critical staff - among them magistrates, law officers, prosecutors and other legal officers - were scrapped last month.
In an interview after the official opening of the 2014 Legal Year yesterday, Mnangagwa said he was going to make a proposal to Treasury to have the incentives restored.
Minister Mnangagwa said it was not Government's intention to reduce salaries of civil servants.
"We do not reduce the salaries of civil servants. I have not been aware of the issue until it was addressed. That was done because of lack of fiscal space but we want to appeal to the Ministry of Finance to restore that," he said.
In his keynote address at the 2014 legal year opening, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said downgrading conditions of service of judges was unconstitutional and urged Government to address the anomaly.
He said the downward review of conditions of service was likely to impact negatively on justice delivery.
"We have on other occasions pointed out that it is unconstitutional to reduce the conditions of service for judges while they are still in office.
"This serious breach of the Constitution persists to this date but we remain hopeful that our concerns shall be addressed as soon as the fiscal space allows," he said.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku was also unhappy with the recent announcement by the Civil Service Commission that had it stopped paying all magistrates' retention allowances until further notice.
"We in the Judicial Service Commission are currently engaging all stakeholders to ensure that this development does not have the effect of reversing the gains that we had made in reducing the backlog in the magistrates court."
Lawyers employed by Government started getting the monthly allowances in 2011.
That allowance was largely credited with ending strikes by magistrates and prosecutors around the time.
Retention allowances of between US$150 and US$400 for critical staff - among them magistrates, law officers, prosecutors and other legal officers - were scrapped last month.
In an interview after the official opening of the 2014 Legal Year yesterday, Mnangagwa said he was going to make a proposal to Treasury to have the incentives restored.
Minister Mnangagwa said it was not Government's intention to reduce salaries of civil servants.
"We do not reduce the salaries of civil servants. I have not been aware of the issue until it was addressed. That was done because of lack of fiscal space but we want to appeal to the Ministry of Finance to restore that," he said.
In his keynote address at the 2014 legal year opening, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said downgrading conditions of service of judges was unconstitutional and urged Government to address the anomaly.
He said the downward review of conditions of service was likely to impact negatively on justice delivery.
"We have on other occasions pointed out that it is unconstitutional to reduce the conditions of service for judges while they are still in office.
"This serious breach of the Constitution persists to this date but we remain hopeful that our concerns shall be addressed as soon as the fiscal space allows," he said.
Chief Justice Chidyausiku was also unhappy with the recent announcement by the Civil Service Commission that had it stopped paying all magistrates' retention allowances until further notice.
"We in the Judicial Service Commission are currently engaging all stakeholders to ensure that this development does not have the effect of reversing the gains that we had made in reducing the backlog in the magistrates court."
Lawyers employed by Government started getting the monthly allowances in 2011.
That allowance was largely credited with ending strikes by magistrates and prosecutors around the time.
Source - Herald
