Truck Drivers in Malawi Stage Strike Over Salaries and Passport Renewal Fees

Truck drivers in Malawi have launched a strike, parking their trucks in the industrial area of Kanengo in the capital city, Lilongwe, to demand better salaries and a reduction in passport renewal fees.

The Truck Drivers Union of Malawi, represented by General Secretary Grey Chisale, has voiced the drivers’ concerns and stated that they will only resume work once their issues are addressed.

The drivers are calling for their employers to increase their salaries and for the Malawian government, specifically the Immigration Department, to streamline passport renewals, ensuring they are done promptly and at a reduced cost of K60,000. 

The drivers argue that the current delays in passport renewal lead to job losses for some of their colleagues.

Truck owners in Malawi raised similar concerns two years ago, but they assert that the government has failed to address these issues adequately.

In response, Malawi’s Minister of Transport and Public Works, Jacob Hara, emphasized that there are agencies that collaborate with drivers, and the appropriate channel for addressing these concerns would have been through these agencies.

The strike by Malawi’s truck drivers highlights the importance of fair wages and efficient bureaucratic processes in the transport sector and underlines the need for constructive dialogues between workers, employers, and government agencies to resolve these issues.

This story has been adopted from Malawi24.