Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Coalition of Public Employees (COLEPE) has been denied a permit to embark on their strike by the Minister of Police and Public Safety Hon.
Lepota Sekola. COLEPE had on March 15 applied for a permit on behalf of its affiliates; Lesotho Police Staff Association (LEPOSA), Lesotho Public Servants Association (LEPSSA), Lesotho Association of
Teachers (LAT), Lesotho Teachers Trade Union (LTTU), Lesotho Schools Principal Association (LESPA), Qiloane Nursing Assistants Association (QINUASA) and
Lesotho Nurses Association (LNA), in which they sort to present a petition to the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House in
the National Assembly today (March 24). In an interview with Informative Newspaper, the LAT Chairperson Letsatsi Ntsibolane indicated that they had requested the minister
to allow them to protest since the police department denied them permission to do so. “The law does grant us a right to further request permission from the
higher authority. We had given the minister a deadline of 12:00 mid-day today, however he did not respond, therefore we will communicate our next move in due
course,” Ntsibolane informed this reporter on Tuesday. The petition demands the forgoing offices to increase salaries by 25% for the fiscal year 2022/2023
subsequent to a series of letters sent to the same but to no reply. Part of their petition to the PM reads; “The past three years have been the hardest to us.
In the midst of myriad challenges, (inter alia, Covid-19) that befell the world, we have had to live with zero percent salary increase with the understanding that our
country has been economically hit hard too”. COLEPE also demand correction of the financial estimates to ensure that civil servants’ salary increase is not less than twenty-five percent, or in alternative, with effect
from April 1, that “there should be an implementation of the threshold at which income earners become liable for income tax when salary is increased or raised
to M48 000 per annum with a tax return of M1 300 as the current threshold has been unchanged for some years. ” They further indicate that tax credit should be increased as well as reduction of income tax to 20 and 28 percent
respectively. “These changes will go a long way to increasing our buying power and the government will subsequently collect more VAT (value added tax),” further reads the petition.
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