The government has decided to implement the recommendations of the 9th report of the Pay Research Bureau in toto. This implementation will cost Rs 6.5 billion in total. With Rs 1.7 billion voted in the last budget having already been set aside for this purpose, the government will have to find Rs 4.8 billion to honour this commitment publicly made by the PM.
This report would reflect the philosophy of the government where the margin between the smallest and the largest would be narrowed. Thus, Pravind Jugnauth announced that the ratio between a General Worker and a Permanent Secretary would go from 1:7 in 2016 to 1:6.2 in 2021. He also recalled that the state has been paying an advance of Rs 1,000 to each civil servant since last January, which to date, represents a total of Rs 1.6 billion. This advance will be normalized with the implementation of the PRB recommendations. The minimum wage will be increased to Rs 10,250 and payable from January 2021. The arrears from January 2021 to October will be honoured in the form of a ‘lumpsum’ in November. And so, the new salary scale for civil servants will be payable from December 2021
The press conference on Thursday 14th October is the outline of these recommendations to be implemented.
The most important points are as follows:
- The salary increase will be 10% for those who receive between Rs 7800 and Rs 24,750, 7.5% for those who receive Rs 25, 525 to Rs 46, 900 and 7% for those who exceed the 48, 725 mark.
- The pensions of those registered since last January will be adjusted to this new scale and the annual ‘bonus’ at the end of 2021 will be calculated on the basis of these new salary rates.
- The allowances of officers based in Rodrigues, Agalega and St Brandon will be revised
- The review of the salaries of parliamentarians is also among the recommendations of the Report and will be communicated in a second phase
- Reimbursement of sick leaves from 2020 will be made
- Implementation of a ‘Force Majeure’ concept in case of exceptional events, including ‘Perils’ and natural disasters. This will include Flexi time, Overtime and Shifts which will be discussed between employers and employees
- Continuous training of civil servants in IT to ensure a digital service to the public
- A Green Loan facility for the purchase of an electric vehicle.
- Eligibility criteria will be reviewed to allow civil servants a ‘duty free’ car purchase.
- Those, who receive passage benefits but have other priorities, could use them to finance a construction or renovation project
- Reintroduction of the categorisation system for boards and committees in the public system, where fees will be paid according to categories
- A special committee will be set up to implement the report within 18 months at the latest, i.e. until the end of the financial year in June 2022. A special committee in the Ministry of the Civil Service will follow up. The Ministry is also responsible for detecting possible problems in the implementation and initiating an investigation in this respect.
- In case of errors detected, the director of the PRB will publish an addendum.
In short, this dossier will be discussed in more detail this Friday on MBC by the Director of PRB and experts.
The Prime Minister was keen to point out that since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, the state has disbursed more than Rs 80 billion to limit business failures, mass layoffs as well as to preserve purchasing power. He also pointed out that Rs 25 billion has been used for the Government Wage Assistance Scheme and the Self Employed Assistance Scheme where over 500,000 people would have benefited. According to the World Bank, Mauritius is the fourth country in Africa to meet this need. To dismiss any suggestion that he might be campaigning through this generosity to the population, “There will be no election in three years. We are making sure that we give to the masses and save employees, businesses and investors” concluded Pravind Jugnauth.
