Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, yesterday (15-09) guaranteed that no state employee would see their salary reduced following the approval by the Council of Ministers of the law that defines the criteria for setting the remuneration of civil servants and holders of public office, as well as chart models for employees and agents of the state and of the Armed Forces.
Speaking to journalists in Maputo, Maleiane explained that the current scenario makes it difficult to manage the state payroll. A joint commission was therefore appointed, he said, comprising representatives of the Ministries of Economy and Finance and of the State Administration of Civil Service, who went to see what happened in other countries, and brought this experience to bear of the situation in Mozambican.
The minister however asserted that the model now approved had not been copied, and must therefore be understood as being national in character.
Investigations had concluded that, instead of applying 103 charts, only three were needed, the most important of which was the single salary chart applicable to all state employees and agents and others who receive salaries via the State Budget.
Then there is the Armed Forces chart, which, as well as employees, covers those serving compulsory military service.
This exercise made it possible to reduce some 5,625 salaries to 63 tables. Of the 73 promotion levels, 21 were left. Levels in the progression class fell from 263 to 52, while salary supplements (allowances) dropped from 35 to two. Function qualifiers went from 322 to 93, and a whole raft of legislation would become a single law governing almost all state institutions.
The Minister of Economy and Finance said it was important for people to understand that the approval of the new chart did not constitute a salary increase. “What was done was to bring the 450,000 employees governed by 103 charts onto a single chart with 21 levels,” he explained.
“It is also not true what is being reported: that the Council of Ministers approved some figures that are already being bandied about. These have nothing to do with the approved law. The approved chart does not yet have numbers; these will appear as the government becomes able to fill levels using the criteria agree upon,” Minister Maleiane said.
Maleiane also made it clear that the approved law brings with it a novelty in the shape of the reference level criterion.
“It means that civil service salaries are based on the amount earned by the Head of State, with the different bodies following. This is because it is important to designate the president as the number one, or reference point in setting wages. Even so, the amounts which are currently being talked about and debated in some circles are not accurate,” Maleiane cautioned.
The Minister said that the implementation of the new chart would in 2022 have an approximate impact on the state budget of around 19 billion meticais.
