Interns, who conducted phase four of the national identity card registration outreach in Zomba district last year, are planning to storm National Registration Bureau (NRB) district offices over delayed payment of their allowances.
Malawi24 understands that over 20 interns were contracted for phase four of the mass registration in the district which initially was to run for 15 days from 4th December, 2023 to 18th December, 2023, but was extended by three days.
However, four months down the line, the interns have told us that they are yet to receive their allowances amounting to K150,000 each.
Several members of the group who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity, say by contractual agreement, they were supposed to get K80,000 before starting the registration exercise to ensure their survival in the field.
It is, however, reported that their bosses told them that they will not receive the field allowance but rather receive the whole amount (K150,000) at once at the end of their contract on December 2023.
The interns say this forced them to borrow some money from friends to sustain them in their respective areas within the district where they were assigned to conduct the registration exercise.
The group accuses the district’s NRB office through its accountant of shifting the dates of their payment and surprisingly, it is reported that the office has paid one intern while putting the rest of the group on the waiting bay.
“We have been told these “Next Week” words a lot, so we are kind of fumed as to how many times we are going to be told “Next Week”? When the week he was referring to came on 8th April, he only addressed a single person saying he was the patient one out of us.
“Later that day, that person got his money, the guy from the accounts office even thanked him (the intern) for being patient and out of his words, he said and I quote, “your colleagues will get theirs next week”. But up to now, there’s nothing, and he doesn’t even address us anymore,” one of the interns explained.
Another intern has also told us that they are now spending sleepless nights as people who borrowed them money for their survival in field, wants their money back.
The anonymous source continued by revealing that the group is now planning to storm the district’s NRB offices to seek explanation for shifting dates of settling their allowances.
“Even head teachers from school where we conducted the exercise are giving us headaches as they want us to pay them as well for being our supervisors. We were planning to go to the office on Monday, 22nd April 2024, but we are told that some of the officials are in the field for another phase of registration,” explained another intern.
The group further says they are also very surprised that NRB permanent staff who were part of the exercise in the district have all received their allowances.
