Windfall for former Speaker: Chimunthu getting half salary

Government’s decision to offer former Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda terminal benefits and leave out his predecessors and deputy Speakers has prompted former Speakers to question the justification.

Chimunthu Banda is the only former Speaker getting half the salary and fuel allocation of the incumbent Speaker as part of his retirement package, according to a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission Ralph Jooma.

According to the Malawi National Assembly Terms and Conditions of Service for the Speaker, which came into effect on November 13 2009, Chimunthu Banda also got a four-wheel drive motor vehicle as part of his retirement package.

The conditions of service for the Speaker which are determined by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and approved by the President did not extend to the other former Speakers the privileges Chimunthu Banda is getting.

Malawi has four other living former Speakers, namely Nelson Khonje, Sam Mpasu, Louis Chimango and Davis Katsonga who received gratuity when they left office.

But Jooma in an interview on Tuesday said the current PSC does not understand how the deal was negotiated as it did not inherit any documentation to use as reference.

Said Jooma: “We cannot explain how these were negotiated because they were done when we were not in the PSC. We have never seen any documents relating to that issue. This should have been extended to other former Speakers as well. We are trying to get these documents in order to use as a reference point.”

Part 7 of the Parliamentary Service Act says the PSC is chaired by the Speaker and such number of other members of the National Assembly not exceeding five who shall be appointed by resolution of the National Assembly.

Jooma, told Weekend Nation yesterday that the PSC which is also chaired by the Speaker of Parliament determines the conditions of service for all political positions at the National Assembly.

“The PSC handles conditions of service for the Speaker and others who are deemed to be in political positions which are taken to the President for approval while the rest of parliamentary staff from the Clerk of Parliament all the way down are handled by the Public Appointments Committee and these go through the plenary session of the House and are never handled by the President,” he said.

A memo from the National Assembly addressed to the Secretary for Human Resource Management and Development, reference number NA/FIN/4 dated June 3 2015 shows that government started paying a pension to the former Speaker from May 2015.

The memo states that former presidents Bingu wa Mutharika and Joyce Banda approved the perks for Chimunthu Banda on November 13, 2009 and December 3 2013, respectively.

Chimunthu-Banda said in an interview last week, it was the Chief Secretary who wrote former president Bingu wa Mutharika in 2009 to approve the perks.

He also admitted to have personally written a memo to former president Joyce Banda in 2013 referenced NA/SOP/2 drawing her attention to the approval granted by Mutharika in 2009.

Chimunthu Banda served as Speaker for two terms from 2004 to 2014. With the retirement benefits he receives, he cannot be engaged in gainful employment in the public service unless he chooses to forego one.

But the former Speaker insisted that the package was part of his terminal benefits which were approved by former president Bingu wa Mutharika.

“I am not my own spokesperson on this issue because it borders on a public office in which I was only an occupant then. But all I can say is that the payment is justified through the Speaker’s Terms of Conditions of Service which are approved by the President. This applies to all the Speakers after me,” he said.

Part 16.1 of the Terms of Conditions of Service for Speaker of Parliament which came into effect on November 13 2009 says: “The Speaker shall be entitled to a gratuity calculated at 50 percent of basic salary since election, provided that, the gratuity shall only be payable where a Speaker has served continuously for a period of not less than six months.”

While 16.2 of the same says: “The Speaker shall enjoy a non-taxable pension after serving a full term of office as a Speaker. The non-taxable pension shall be calculated at 50 percent of basic pay of the incumbent Speaker.”

When asked how the terminal benefits were arrived at Parliament chief public relations officer, Leonard Mengezi in an e-mailed response on Thursday said the chief human resource officer for the institution who was away was better placed to respond on the matter.

Mengezi confirmed the former Speaker is being paid terminal benefits through Department of Human Resource and Development (DHMRD).

A payment voucher number 3001898 dated January 29, 2015 shows that Parliament paid the former Speaker an amount of K4 785 750  as arrears for part of his terminal benefits.

Former Speaker Sam Mpasu in a telephone interview on Wednesday described the process as flawed.

“Personally, I was not consulted but I thought that since this matter involves the usage of public funds it should have been discussed by the whole House. The fact that this was not extended to other former Speakers is also irregular,” he said.

Mpasu added that President Peter Mutharika had legal powers to incorporate all the former Speakers into the approved conditions of service.

Another former speaker Davis Katsonga, while praising the move by government to put Speakers on retirement plan, questioned why the country was neglecting former Speakers.