adminAccording to payment structures agreed, each legislator is entitled to $75 per sitting and judging by the estimated number of sittings for 2012 and the total number of legislators, the lawmakers should be paid a cumulative $1,6 million. The $15 000 once-off payment did not take into account the number of sittings one had, creating a scenario where one might either be overpaid or underpaid.
With barely three months before Parliament is dissolved to pave way for harmonised elections, most legislators fear they might leave the House empty-handed.
This is a disturbing scenario more so as it emerged that payments were being done through Treasury and not through a parliamentary budget. The figures are also not clear and so is the payment method.
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga attributed the non-payment to the fact that payments were being made through Treasury. He said had Treasury paid through a parliamentary budget, legislators would have been paid sitting allowances premised on the number of days they attended parliament.
“I have not heard anything regarding payment of sitting allowances for 2012. The last payment that was done was not done through the parliamentary budget,” said Minister Matinenga.
“Certainly, we would have wanted to regularise the payment of their sitting allowance. We will certainly do that, only if the payment is done through a parliamentary budget. I am not aware that the payment was done in that manner.”
The latest developments certainly put the spotlight on the Ministry of Finance and the manner in which it administers the national purse. Granted, legislators are important people who carry the mandate of their constituencies to debate and promulgate laws for the good of the nation. Their role as an arm of Government is to hold the Executive to account and ensure that the wishes of the people are respected and adhered to to the letter. But their propensity to manipulate Treasury is regrettable.
What we find perplexing is the murky manner in which funds are being administered and decisions made that affect the national purse when it comes to MPs. They appear to be the chosen ones.
For instance, it is not explained how Minister Tendai Biti unilaterally decided to write off, firstly the $9 million Treasury gave to parliamentarians to buy top of the range vehicles under a loan facility in 2009. About 300 legislators received $30 000 each under the facility which was meant to be a revolving fund.
Treasury also awarded bonuses to legislators in 2011, yet they are not civil servants.
In 2010, the lawmakers suggested that they wanted their sitting allowances to liquidate the vehicle loans, but Treasury in December last year deposited a flat $15 000 in all legislators’ accounts. This was despite the fact that some of the legislators were not entitled to the allowances, particularly some ministers.
Decisions taken at Treasury regarding legislators belie a scenario where there appears to be collective looting of the national purse by people entrusted with representing the masses. The outcry by parliamentarians that they need to be paid their sitting allowances pronto betrays their fear of leaving their cushy seats empty handed and this is clearly a mercenary approach to politics.
Elections are coming this year and this stampede to benefit from or fleece the national coffers shows that legislators are out to enrich themselves at the expense of people. Minister Biti and his team at Treasury appear complicit in this attempt to bleed our coffers dry.
They should put their foot down and stop their habit of placating or kow towing to the whims and caprices of Members of Parliament at every turn.
Online Reporter