Financially-struggling Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has laid off 65 employees as part of its restructuring and reorganisation towards successful implementation of its turnaround strategies.
The retrenchment of the 65 comes about a year after the corporation also conducted a similar exercise where about 102 employees were laid off.
In a written response yesterday, MPC postmaster general Angel Banda said most of the retrenched staff were under-qualified, had no Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE).
employees this year
She said the MPC 2022 functional review, approved by the Office of the President and Cabinet, and was reviewed again this year, recommended that the institution should trim up to 411 employees.
Said Banda: “This is a second phase that has affected 65 employees through deletions, downgrades and voluntary retrenchment. The staff complement as of 28th May 2024 was 558.
“So, the balance of 82 will be let go in the next three years to 2026. Seventeen employees will be retrenched while the balance (65) will be let go through retirements over the same period.”
She said MPC turnaround strategy’s objectives include, among others, to growing revenues through market penetration, new product development and improving business productivity, operational efficiency and sustainability through technology adoption, capacity building, and resource optimisation
However, Banda could not indicate how much MPC is expected to pay the retrenched staff or how much it will save through salaries in the long term.
In a separate interview, MPC Workers Union president William Chipoka said the staff are aware of the on-going restructuring and reorganisation. He said the delay to complete the process is affecting staff in various ways.
“With the current status here, most of the employees are being denied access to bank loans because some of the banks fear we may be retrenched and we will not be able to pay back the loan.”
In 2020, MPC developed a turnaround strategy to keep the company afloat amid technological advancements that have rendered posting mail almost obsolete. Among others, the corporation aspired to be a leader in digitalisation and become an access point from which almost all services could be accessed.
However, to attain this vision, the parastatal said it needed a commitment of about K41 billion, of which, K10.04 billion would be used to cover unserviced statutory obligations and creditors while K30 billion would be used for investments.
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