GOVERNMENT UNSURE OF WHETHER TO PAY NEW YEAR BONUS
Maputo, 29 Nov (AIM) – The Mozambican government says it does not know whether this year it will be able to pay the traditional New Year’s bonus to workers of the public administration.
Speaking on Monday at a hearing with the parliamentary Commission on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, said that only after assessing the financial impact of the bonus would the government decide whether or not to pay it.
The bonus is equivalent is equivalent to an extra month of the basic wage, and is therefore commonly known as “the thirteenth month”.
There is no legal obligation on the government to pay the 13th month – but it has always done so in the past, and failure to pay it this year would certainly lead to serious discontent among state employees.
Tonela told the parliamentarians that paying the bonus was entirely dependent on the availability of funds – particularly after the confusion that has characterized implementation of the new Single Wage Table (TSU) for the public sector.
“The work is under way, and the assessment commissions are doing their job”, said Tonela. “We will have to take their recommendations for a decision by the government. Once all the impacts have been assessed, the decisions will be taken. Nothing has yet been decided about this”.
As for resumption of work by the French company TotalEnergies on the construction of Liquefied Natural Gas facilities on the Afungi Peninsula, in Cabo Delgado province, Tonela said this is entirely dependent on the security conditions.
The government, he added, is in permanent contact with the partners of Area One of the Rovuma Basin, which is the source of the gas for Afungi. “They have been following the evolution of the security situation in Cabo Delgado”, said Tonela, “and from the first moment, it was agreed that, as soon as sustainable security conditions were established, the companies would have to take the decision to restart their activities”.
“The government has been working with all the interested parties”, he continued, “to safeguard the foundations of the project so that, when the moment comes, there will be the conditions to resume the construction work”.
(AIM)
Pf/ (371)