Statisticians sue finance ministry

The employees are cited on the matter as Mosimanegape Ntoba and Others while Attorney General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance are cited as the respondents. In a statutory notice to sue, their lawyer Samantha Mbikiwa said despite her clients’ entitlement to benefit from multiple grading of B- band and C4/ C3 positions, the ministry failed to implement and or extend its application in favour of concerned Statistics Botswana employees. She said the ministry’s failure in this regard adversely affected the employee’s progression and undermined the government’s objectives sought to be achieved through multiple grading of B-band and C4/C3 positions.

“The detriment suffered by our clients is to the extent that they found themselves stuck at B4, B3, B2 and B1 scale for periods in excess of five years without progression,” said Mbikiwa.

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Mbikiwa said the government has implemented multiple grading of B-Band and C4/C3 positions in the favour of other officers within the government service in general, who are similarly circumstanced as their clients. She said such implementation has created a legitimate expectation that the benefits of the 1993 Savingram will be extended to their clients.

Mbikiwa explained that in 1993, the Director of Public Service Management (DPSM) issued a Savingram, the purpose of which was to clarify the position regarding progression of officers on multiple grade B positions and C4/C3 scale. She said in the Savingram, the Director instructed that officers in occupation of B scale positions should progress to the next level after two years of satisfactory performance.

Mbikiwa indicated that failure to implement multiple titling in favour of their clients is therefore contrary to the legitimate expectation aforesaid and in breach of the parity principle.

Mbikiwa said the failure by the ministry to extend or implement the provisions of the 1993 Savingram to the employees is therefore unreasonable, unjustified, and unlawful. “As a result of the foregoing, the Ministry is bound to apply multiple grading of B-band positions to our clients with retroactive effect. Further, our clients are entitled to have been elevated to C4 positions before 2010 due to multiple grading of C4/C3 positions and or the availability of positions,” she said.