President still to decide on MPs allowances

Austin Zvoma has said, dismissing the amounts legislators are claiming.
Legislators have been claiming that they are entitled to US$75 per day backdated to 2008 for attending Parliament business.

The MPs are refusing to sign loan repayment contracts for vehicles they bought through the Ministry of Finance, arguing that the Government owes them lots of money in unpaid sitting allowances.
They say those who have been consistently attending Parliament business would be paid figures in the range of US$50 000 at the rate of US$75 per day.

MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

In an interview, Mr Zvoma said Parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee had already recommended a certain figure to the President who is yet to respond.
According to the law, the remuneration of Members of Parliament is a prerogative of the President, as stated in terms of Chapter 2:03 Section 6 (g) of the Parliamentary Salaries, Allowances and Benefits Act.

“I have heard people making speculations about the MPs’ allowances, but the fact of the matter is that the President is the only one who can determine how much allowance should be given to the MPs.
“The SROC made a recommendation by resolution to the President because they had no power to determine the allowances. They recommended that allowances should be pegged at a certain level that I cannot mention.

“The President is seized with this matter and people have to wait until President Mugabe makes determination based on the recommendations of the SROC. It is, however, his prerogative to either reduce or increase what has been recommended,” Mr Zvoma said.

He added that the Ministry of Finance’s suggestion that the money paid for the MPs’ vehicles should offset their allowances does not work at the moment because their allowances were not known.
Mr Zvoma said SROC had mandated him to follow up on the figures that were budgeted under Parliament to improve conditions of service for MPs.

Early this year, the SROC petitioned President Mugabe for a review of parliamentarians’ salaries from US$400 to US$1 000.
Speaker of the House of Assembly and chairperson of the SROC, Mr Lovemore Moyo, said it was the role of the SROC to make recommendations to the President for any review of salaries and allowances.

“We have recommended that members’ salaries be revie-wed from the US$400 they were earning last year to US$1 000 as part of ongoing efforts to address their plight.
“In addition, they are entitled to sitting allowances, committee fees and subsistence allowances which include meal and private accommodation allowances,” Mr Moyo said.