PM admits blunders over teachers’ pay

THE approval of a salary structure that was set to benefit new teachers at the expense of long-serving ones was erroneous and illegal, Prime Minister Nahas Angula told Parliament yesterday.

Responding to questions raised by Nora Schimming-Chase of the CoD, Angula said the directive, approved by the Department of Public Service Management under his office, did not follow proper procedures. He said the matter was being investigated to identify who had been responsible.”The matter is currently being investigated internally to identify the wrongdoers and to recommend punitive measures to Cabinet aimed at dealing with the officials who dealt with the matter,” said Angula.He was quick to point out, however, that Cabinet was not against the right of teachers to claim benefits due to them, but instead stressed the need to follow legal procedures.The Premier said the request by the Education Ministry was accepted by the Public Service Commission although it knew that it was supposed to be negotiated at the right platform.Angula further said that it was wrong for his Office’s Department of Public Service Management to instruct the Ministry of Education to implement the new system without Treasury authorisation.The Prime Minister said the teachers’ salary agreement would have cost the State more than N$500 million and should therefore have been decided upon by Cabinet.”The amounts involved were N$7 and N$523 million for partial and full implementation respectively, which was never budgeted for.Those who have already benefited might have been paid from savings or perhaps out of ignorance, but the investigation might shed more light on the aspect.”In terms of the salary structure, which was subsequently scrapped, 191 new teachers were appointed in higher salary brackets in January this year, while 6 434 others were expecting promotion to higher pay grades.He said the matter was being investigated to identify who had been responsible.”The matter is currently being investigated internally to identify the wrongdoers and to recommend punitive measures to Cabinet aimed at dealing with the officials who dealt with the matter,” said Angula.He was quick to point out, however, that Cabinet was not against the right of teachers to claim benefits due to them, but instead stressed the need to follow legal procedures.The Premier said the request by the Education Ministry was accepted by the Public Service Commission although it knew that it was supposed to be negotiated at the right platform.Angula further said that it was wrong for his Office’s Department of Public Service Management to instruct the Ministry of Education to implement the new system without Treasury authorisation.The Prime Minister said the teachers’ salary agreement would have cost the State more than N$500 million and should therefore have been decided upon by Cabinet.”The amounts involved were N$7 and N$523 million for partial and full implementation respectively, which was never budgeted for.Those who have already benefited might have been paid from savings or perhaps out of ignorance, but the investigation might shed more light on the aspect.”In terms of the salary structure, which was subsequently scrapped, 191 new teachers were appointed in higher salary brackets in January this year, while 6 434 others were expecting promotion to higher pay grades.