Front PageNational News

MPs back obscene pay perks

The Parliamentary Service Commission has vowed that MPs will not forgo the huge increases in their packages as President Peter Mutharika and his Cabinet have done, arguing their benefits cannot be compared to those of members of the Executive arm of government.

The MPs also argue that leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera’s new K1.2 million monthly salary should not be an issue as his position is at par with a minister.

Jooma: We are following what  was passed in the budget
Jooma: We are following what was passed in the budget

Asked why MPs, including the leader of opposition, have not deferred their new salaries, Parliamentary Service Commission spokesman Ralph Jooma argued last week in an interview MPs benefits cannot be compared to those of the President and his ministers.

“You cannot compare the President, Vice-President and ministers with members of Parliament in terms of benefits and entitlements”, said Jooma

He added that the President, Vice-President and ministers hold high positions and that is why they have agreed that their salaries should not be raised.

He claimed that parliamentarians are just following what was passed in the budget.

Jooma also insisted that Chakwera’s salary follows a resolution to normalise the leader of opposition’s grade to that of a senior minister.

According to Jooma, MPs recommended to the President about the pay hike and that the first proposal was rejected and the President counter-offered the amount that has currently been implemented.

“The commission has rectified the leader of opposition status to that of a full Cabinet minister; hence his salary hike,” said Jooma.

A source within the commission confided in Weekend Nation that perks for the position of leader of the opposition were from 2009 to 2014 unilaterally lowered to the grade of a deputy minister to punish the then holder John Tembo after the Bingu wa Mutharika government failed to remove him.

In a separate interview, leader of opposition Dr Lazarus Chakwera said he has no problem with any amount of money which government wants to give him, arguing his take home is outlined in his conditions of service.

“Let me put this on record. Up to now I was not consulted on the pay hike that recently has been deferred by the Executive arm of government. I am new in this post and all I know is that I am getting a salary that is in my conditions of service,” he said

Chakwera’s new pay, as that of a minister, is now pegged at K1.6 million from K600 000 per month representing a rise of 168 percent.

He is also entitled to 1 000 litres of fuel per month and K350 000 housing allowance.

MPs are now getting K600 000 from K126 000, representing 376 percent increase.

Each MP also receives 500 litres of fuel that translates to about K430 000 per month.

On fuel alone it means Parliament would be spending about K1 billion for its 193 members per year.

Acting Clerk of Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe said, two weeks ago, the new salary structure for MPs was effected from October 1.

Government also wanted to raise the President’s monthly salary by about 80 percent from K1.5 million to K2.7 million.

That of his deputy Saulos Chilima was also raised by the same percentage to K1.8 million from K1 million.

The adjustments further showed that the Vice-President would start receiving fuel coupons amounting to 1 500 litres and up to K450 000 if he was privately accommodated.

The issue of pay hike has opened a can of worms with commentators questioning the timing as the country is struggling economically and public sector workers on mass action demanding better pay.

Boniface Dulani, a political scientist at Chancellor College, said in an interview last week that Parliamentary Service Commission reasoning may make sense but in the spirit of patriotism they could have waited until the country’s economy is out of danger.

He further said that whether the members pay hike is within the laws, they could have been sensitive over the issue.

“The problem we have in Malawi is that we are too obsessed with the laws hence we sometimes abuse them,” said Dulani.

According to Dulani, since MPs are elected to represent people’s interest, they are supposed to be sensitive to their plight.

But the MPs should also worry about the timing of their pay hike now despite the fact that it is legal.

There are issues to do with the competing interests of paying staff and providing the citizenry with goods and services from a tight zero-aid budget with a deficit of way over K100 billion and for which MRA is struggling to realise tax revenue targets.

Then there is also the ripple effect of pay hike. Already Judiciary and public university staff are making astronomical pay hike demands for which government says it has no money.

Then there is the question of where government would get the money if it capitulated to the demands.

Either it finances by borrowing from the money market, a practice which is highly inflationary and has the “crowd out” effect on the private sector or it prints money, thereby destroying the value of the kwacha and threaten economic stability.

Related Articles

Back to top button