By Isaac Salima:
Some newly trained professionals who were pursuing their careers in education and health have asked the government not to prolong the suspension of recruitment and promotions in the civil service.
Recently, the government suspended hiring and promotions in the civil service as one way of controlling the growing wage bill.
“It has been observed that the civil service wage bill has increased beyond [an] acceptable level which cannot be sustained with the current economic situation. It is therefore prudent that recruitment and promotions be suspended temporarily until [the] Mid-year Budget Session of Parliament,” the letter, signed by Chief Secretary Justin Saidi, reads.
The development has not gone down well with some of new graduates, who claim that the ban could affect their internship programmes with the government.
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Some 46 young people who graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBSS) at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences have expressed concern over the issue.
“After years of rigorous training, sleepless nights and personal sacrifice to earn MBBS degrees, these graduates now find themselves at home, waiting. Their next crucial step, mandatory internship, has been stalled. For young doctors who had prepared to join the medical workforce by December 2025, hope has abruptly turned into anxiety,” the students, who opted for anonymity, said.
“This delay is not just a personal tragedy for the graduates; it is a national concern. Across the country, patients queue for hours, wards overflow and communities depend on overstretched clinicians struggling to meet overwhelming demand. The shortage of well-trained medical doctors has long been acknowledged and the presence of idle, fully qualified doctors registered by the Medical Council of Malawi while the public receives substandard or delayed care is a painful contradiction. Every day these doctors remain undeployed is another day the health system bleeds from avoidable strain and avoidable deaths,” he said.
And some of the teachers who finished their studies under the Initial Primary Teacher Education 18 this year said they feared that the suspension may affect their recruitment as well.
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“We graduated around July this year and we hope to be recruited anytime soon as we are still waiting for our certificates from Maneb [Malawi National Examinations Board]. But this ban means that we have to wait a little longer,” one of the teachers said.
On Sunday, Saidi said they were in the final stages of the review.
“We are in the final stages of finishing our review. So, the lifting may depend on when we are done with our exercise,” he said.
Saidi was quick to say they still provide waivers to hire professionals in critical situations.
Quality education expert Benedicto Kondowe said that while the ban may provide short-term fiscal breathing space, its wider impact could be damaging.
“Freezing recruitment and promotions risks deepening shortages in health, education, security and social services where staffing gaps already strain service delivery. It also weakens staff morale and career progression, encourages attrition to the private sector or abroad and stalls skills renewal and succession planning. Without clear exemptions, timelines and a credible reform framework, the policy may achieve cost control at the expense of efficiency, institutional stability and public trust,” he said.
Malawi Local Government Association Executive Director Hadrod Mkandawire is on record to have defended the ban but urged the government to consult widely before extending it.
“We have no objection to the suspension as it is temporary, and the reasons provided are well justified in the interest of broader national economic stabilisation.
“However, if the moratorium is sustained in the medium term, local authorities should be consulted on which priority positions to be exempted,” Mkandawire said.
