Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba has asked all Civil Servants to donate to Cyclone Freddy relief efforts.
In unusual memorandum to all public servants, Zamba has gone further to set minimum donation amounts for public workers.
“In the spirit of Tigwirane Manja as championed by His Excellency the President, I would like to appeal to all Civil Servants, except those working in affected districts to make a financial contribution to support the affected families,” Zamba wrote on Thursday.
Without consulting the Civil Servants Unions the Secretary to the President continues to propose financial contributions based on grades.
According to Zamba all senior grades of Principal Secretaries and herself at Grade B should donate K150,000.00
Those lower at grade C usually Directors and other Principal Secretaries should think of donating K100 000.00 while those a grade below at D should cough at least K50 000.00
Grade E and F who are Chiefs should make a K30 000.00 donation and Zamba wants G, H, I which are graduate entry and most professionals their suggested donation is pegged by Zamba at K10 000.00
The Secretary to the President and Cabinet who has a history of courting controversies suggest the majority of Civil Servants at Grade J and K to cough K5000 and the larger group L and M to contribute K2000.00
The rest of lower grades of public service N and below will be expected to donate K500.00.
Civil Servants already pay tax and many others have contributed to the cylcone initiatives. Government this year only raised Civil Servants pay with 8 percent despite inflation hovering over 30 percent.