Chikhwawa DC says council workers are thieves

District Commissioner for Chikhwawa has accused workers at the district’s council of stealing money from the assembly.

The DC, Bester Mandere, was reacting to reports that council workers in the district have not been given their salaries for the past four months.

He said the workers are lazy and they steal money which they collect in the council’s markets.

The commissioner suggested that the workers are not being paid as punishment for not working hard.

“We mostly pay our direct employees using the money from locally generated revenue and the situation may continue being like this if they (employees) do not pull up their socks,” said Mandere.

Most of the unpaid workers are market masters and revenue collectors.

The workers however said they have been collecting more than enough from the markets, but the council does not want to pay them.

The workers of which some have been with the council for 15 to 20 years claim that all benefits including the assistance they used to get during funeral and other circumstances have been removed.

“We have been complaining on these ill treatments to our bosses but to no avail. What we have been getting from the council officials once we lodge a complaint to them are threats of dismissals,” said one of the employees.

Apart from failing to pay direct staff, the council has also been struggling to pay water bills.

Currently, the water board disconnected water at Chikhwawa, Dyeratu and Nchalo markets a situation which is worrying most vendors there.

Chikhwawa District Council spends K3.3 million to pay 72 direct workers every month but council officials claims that revenue collectors brings less than K3 million a month.