Government and CSC agree on repayment of deducted salaries

The government has come to an agreement with Civil Service Commission (CSC) to repay civil servants’ salaries which were deducted earlier.

CSC’s President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan said on Sunday that an agreement has been reached with Finance Ministry, and that they are now working on obtaining the necessary legal advice on this matter.

“We have not received the agreement in writing. We will announce it as soon as we have it in writing. The Finance Minister is currently working on obtaining legal advice on this matter. We will make the announcement after that,” Fahmy said.

Salaries of civil servants were reduced for a period of three months in October 2009, citing a ‘special’ economic situation as a reason. This money has not been repaid even after a court ruling to do so. The former government said that repayment of the deducted salaries was not possible.

Economic Minister Ahmed Mohamed said earlier that it would be difficult to repay this amount lump sum, but it could be repaid in installments.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad said that discussions have taken place on an issue regarding salaries of civil servants. He did not disclose any details.

“It is not yet at a stage in which it can be revealed to media,” Jihad said.

Civil Service Commission proposed to include Rf 443.7 million in this year’s government budget for the repayment of deducted salaries. This money was however not included in the budget.