By Daniel Zimba & Blessings Makuwira:
Central East Africa Railways (Cear)’s operations were distracted on Tuesday and Wednesday this week following a sit in of the company’s employees at its head offices in Limbe, Blantyre.
This left Balaka-Nayuchi train passengers stranded at train stations along the route.
When The Daily Times crew visited Cear’s head office in Limbe, it found some employees playing chess while others engaged in casual talk within the office premises, with no sign of operations underway.
Cear communications specialist Wezzie Kalua confirmed the development, attributing it to employees’ concerns over irregularities reported in their medical schemes.
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“The employees presented grievances regarding the medical scheme that they have. That is why all of them [employees] from all departments are not working,” Kalua said.
The Daily Times established that the medical scheme had irregularities that led to extra medical charges on beneficiaries [employees] when they access medical care.
Kalua also confirmed that negotiations were underway by the time The Daily Times visited the scene.
The negotiations were said to be among the company’s management, employees’ union leaders and medical insurance providers to address the concerns.
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“Yesterday, around 4pm, the management, union and the medical insurance providers met to discuss [the] possible way of addressing the issues and the discussions are still underway. So, we should be able to get the feedback from the meeting— probably by the end of business today [Thursday],” Kalua said.
One of the passengers, who was spotted stranded at Balaka Train Station, Kelvin Ngala, expressed disappointment with the inconvenience caused by the sit-in.
“Some of us have spent a night at this station waiting for the train and we are stuck here. We are heavily inconvenienced because if we knew about this in advance, we could have planned other means of transport,” Ngala said.
Commenting on the matter, business analyst Marvin Banda stresses the need for stakeholders to consider a fair and urgent approach to addressing the concerns behind the sit-in.
Banda said the sit-in had the potential to disrupt business and other economic activities, especially for players who rely on the train as a mode of transport due to its affordability.
“The authorities should consider addressing [issues fuelling] the sit-in with urgency by providing long-lasting solutions to the concerns [raised] because rail services are critical, especially now when fuel costs for road transport have risen,” Banda said.
