By NORMA SIAME –
AN angry mob of council workers in Kasama who have gone for several months without pay yesterday protested and crippled operations at the council by locking offices.
Among the offices that were locked were the town clerk’s and revenue collection offices.
Town Clerk Raphael Phiri and other senior management officials were forced out of their offices by the irate workers consisting mostly of division three personnel.
A check at the council offices found all the offices locked with padlocks.
The workers only left the lavatories open.
Northern Province Permanent Secretary Hlobota Nkunika called an emergency meeting which was attended by union officials and council management.
The protest was sparked after only half of the K350,000 wage bill for November 2013 was remitted to the council.
This led the workers who wanted to be paid the November salaries in full and the backlog cleared to protest.
After a three-hour meeting, it was agreed that the offices should be re-opened after assurance that the workers would start getting their monies by mid-afternoon.
Mr Nkunika, however, warned public service employees to desist from the habit of locking up public offices whenever they felt aggrieved.
“Government offices are there to serve the public and when they are closed the public cannot access services,” he said.
