Malawi govt agrees with CDEDI to provide waiver on access to pension funds amid covid-19 spike

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Malawi Government has taken heed of advice from the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiative (CDEDI) to provide a waiver on access to pension funds in a bid to alleviate the suffering of workers from the private sector, especially teachers and those from the hospitality industry who have been affected by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

CDEDI Executive Director Slyvester Namiwa in a press release said, for instance, private school teachers and employees from the hospitality industry are struggling to meet ends meet since they are either staying idle or lost jobs.

He said, for this reason government should provide access to pension funds even before one reaches the retirement age.

Responding, the Minister of Finance Felix Msulu has accepted the appeal and has since asked all affected employees to write the ministry of finance through their employers.

Teachers of private schools and those working in the hospitality industry have been going without pay for close to three months now due to covid-19 preventive measures that saw the closure of all public and private schools.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).