By Isaac Salima:
The Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Blantyre Monday rebuffed members of staff of State Residences who were seeking the restoration of their injunction challenging their transfers.
The employees were in 2022 redeployed to various government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), but the workers obtained an interim order of relief stopping the transfers.
The office of the Attorney General (AG) vacated the order, prompting the employees, through their lawyer Luciano Mickeus, to apply for its restoration, arguing that the injunction had been vacated in their absence.
In his ruling, acting IRC chairperson Tamandani Nyimba dismissed the employees’ application after considering several factors, including security reasons, as the employees were working in State Residences.
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“Now, it is a fact that the applicants’ place of work is not just any ordinary government workplace. The applicants work at a State Residence.
“In this vein, I take judicial notice of the fact that throughout the entire world, working at a State Residence almost invariably requires security vetting, background checks or formal security clearance,” Nyimba’s ruling said.
He added that the level of vetting depends on the specific role an employee is entrusted with and the level of access to sensitive areas or information and proximity to protected individuals within the State Residence.
Nyimba has also directed both parties to hold a pre-hearing conference within 28 days.
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Mickeus said he will meet his clients to map the way forward.
The AG or representatives from his office were not present at the court.
Ninety-nine permanent staff members in State Residences had taken the matter to court.
The employees are said to have been redeployed to MDAs without official transfer letters and that there were no established posts for some of them.
Some argued that when they reported to their new posts, they were turned back for lacking transfer letters and that their posts were not available.
The staff members, most of whom were working as gardeners, housekeepers and cooks, have not been working since 2022 despite still receiving their monthly salaries.
