BDF new salary divides the army

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Monday November 5, 2012 00:00

 

The Monitor can reveal that hardly a month after the implementation of the new salary structure at the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) there is already a move to scupper it and replace it with a special allowance, to avoid a messy situation that has risen, whereby some private officers now earn as much as some lieutenant colonel officers.

The new pay structure came into effect this last month and was backdated to April 2012, resulting in the beneficiaries raking back pays which have seen some cashing as much as P60,000 in back pays this just ended month.However, the BDF has refused to reveal how many soldiers are benefitting from the new exercise or how much they have budgeted for except to say the exercise is within budget. The BDF also say this is not a promotion but a simple re-alignment of the BDF pay structure with the rest of the public service.

Responding to The Monitor questionnaire, BDF spokesman Col Tebo Dikole, said the delinking of pay from rank simply seeks to recognise and place BDF members at par with their counterparts in the public service to afford them similar remuneration both at entry point and during their progression, adding that it is also geared towards retaining personnel.

But The Monitor has also learnt that the new salary instrument has irked middle bosses who now have to contend with the fact that they earn less than their juniors such as private, corporal, master corporal, sergeant, warrant officer, master warrant officer and chief warrant officers who have been traditionally at salary scales equivalent to B2/B3 (P2,808-P4,044). Disgruntled BDF officers that The Monitor spoke to believe that progression and promotion in the army should be earned through acts of military heroics and not mere academic certificates that are not backed by military excellence.

Worse, middle management has also learnt that BDF officers who attained qualifications in 2004 have progressed four notches higher; that is because unlike the BDF Act that considers officers for progression after four years, this new structure, now considers the junior officers for progression after every two years and their juniors are reaping big.

The Monitor is informed that the new pay model, known as de-linking at the BDF, benefit soldiers who after attaining diploma qualifications could not be promoted because the BDF had no posts available for them. Information reaching The Monitor indicate that diploma holders, sent for training by the army, form the bulk of the BDF soldiers who started benefitting from the delinking exercise this past month end.

The Monitor is also informed that degree holders who joined at Cadet entry and are now lieutenant colonel officers are also benefitting from the exercise, and they now see themselves moving from C3/C2 scale to as high as D1 or P259,068 a year, depending on years of experience.

The Monitor can also reveal that as a result of the new salary structure adopted by the BDF some junior officers with diploma have reached salary scales of major, overtaking lieutenants and captains in the salary scales, something that has irked their immediate bosses who feel that they are now being undermined by their higher earning juniors.

The BDF, according to The Monitor sources experienced log jam from 2004, when its non-commissioned staff could not proceed anywhere in the ladder due to unavailability of posts. The Monitor sources say it is this group, and others that followed, which are now reaping the benefits.

According to the BDF response to The Monitor questionnaire, diploma holders who have been occupying ranks of lance corporals, can now also progress as high as D3 salary scale (P5,026-P16,326); which is equivalent to the rank of a major in the army, while keeping their junior ranks.

Col Dikole said certificate holders' entry level is now B2 scale which is (P3,372-P4,044) a month up to C2 level (P8,041-P9,237). The lowest entry will now be a B3 (P2,808-3,358), also up to the C2 level. However, for diploma holders, also known as the technical mode in the BDF, their entry level will now be C4/C3- moving up to D3 or from P6,232-P7,448 (C3) range to P14,788-P16,326 (D3 scale), while degree holders can progress without limit. However, some degree holders in the army have denied this, saying there is a limit of up to D1 in their progression.