Maravi

Letters - The Cabinet

Economy, Cabinet pay
By Dr Henry lunga Kasongo, Mongu
Wednesday August 06, 2008 [04:00]

It is common knowledge that due to the rising price of fuel on the world’s market, the economic progress of many countries in the world has been seriously shaken. On the Zambian market, this situation is reflected in the prices of basic commodities such as mealie-meal, sugar, soap which have increased.

In Zambia, a country where majority of the people live on less than a dollar per day, one needs not to be a genius to understand that the cost of living is too high for many ordinary citizens to afford. Despite the hardship many Zambians are facing, there has not been pronouncement from the government on measures or strategies it intends to put in place to cushion the suffering of the people of Zambia vis-ã-vis the unbearable cost of living.

There are indications that Zambia’s economy is not performing well since his Excellency Dr Levy Mwanawasa was admitted ill abroad. The poor performance of the economy can be seen through kwacha/US dollar exchange rate (K3,300 for USD 1 before his admission to K3,550 for USD1).

What will be the fate of the kwacha if our beloved President remains sick for the next 2 months? Some economic analysts will rightly argue that the economic malaise the country has started going through is due to the situation of uncertainty investors are facing due to the President’s illness, as they invested because they trusted his leadership and his way of managing our country’s affairs.

Because leadership and trust are some of the spices of good economic performance, I was personally expecting the government to work hard so that the economic gains we achieved before his Excellency’s sickness are maintained.

Our honourable ministers were supposed to concentrate on working hard so that they are trusted by the people of Zambia and foreign investors. Instead of concentrating on their duties, our honourable ministers are shockingly and selfishly talking about increment of salaries and allowances, talk time and fuel allocation.

It is understandable that our ministers deserve better conditions of service, but at the moment there is no moral justification for such increment. Are our ministers aware that nurses get K200,000 and doctors are paid K500,000 as housing allowances? Which type of house can a doctor rent at K500,000? The majority of our ministers live in Lusaka, where have they seen houses for rental at K200,000 for our hard working nurses?

Instead of comparing their salaries and allowances to highly-paid people such as the governor of the Bank of Zambia, our ministers should compare their salaries to lowly-paid teachers, nurses, doctors so that whenever they think of an increment, they should also increase for those who are poorly and ridiculously paid as well.

As for now, it is immoral, indecent and fraudulent to talk of increment when our beloved President is on the hospital bed. Our ministers should forget about their wallets and bellies at this critical moment. Let us concentrate on praying for his Excellency’s speedy recovery.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=44604

Selfish Cabinet
By Chanda Chilufya, Maputo, Mozambique
Monday August 04, 2008 [04:00]

The increments Cabinet has offered itself are unjustifiable, immoral and scandalous. We have a very dissipated and highly insensitive Cabinet. Unza students have just had their calendar disrupted because we have insensitive ministers who would rather increase their salaries while the lecturers continue to suffer. On this score, I ask Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa to resign.

Vice-President Rupiah Banda must be reminded that this will haunt him even after he leaves Government House because it has shown that he, together with his colleagues in Cabinet, are selfish and do not care about cushioning the high oil and food prices, as well as manage government expenditure.

It does not make any sense at all that Cabinet has decided to make increments for themselves when there are other issues that continue to affect ordinary Zambians.

The closure of the University of Zambia is as a result of a myopic government that wants to hide its weaknesses and inability to govern for the good of the nation in President Mwanawasa’s absence. This Cabinet has been crying for public sympathy after the illness of the President and has asked Zambians to pray for him.

At the rate we are moving, this government and its Cabinet must be pushed, even through established legal institutions to tell the nation the truth regarding the President’s condition. A number of questions have been lingering in our minds and they deserve to be answered.

It is cowardice and docility on the part of the citizens to be made to believe that we just have to wait on God and treatment because, as other commentators have noted, treatment can last a lifetime in certain cases. With due respect, Zambia belongs to all of us - the citizens. We have the right to know the exact condition of our President.

The government must learn to be truthful and stop taking Zambians for granted. As we nurse President Mwanawasa, Zambia needs to move and not be trapped in the President’s illness. Zambia deserves better and must get better from this government.


http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=44671

Unjustifiable pay rise for Cabinet
By Concerned Citizen
Wednesday August 06, 2008 [04:00]

Your revelation of Cabinet’s approval of hefty pay rise on July 24, 2008 for ministers and some other constitutional office holders is such an example of your excellent work. It is sad to see that instead of listening to people’s views, there are even such office holders as Teta, who are defending such an action by making invidious comparisons as broadcast on the 19:00 hours main news on Monday August 4, 2008.

If there have been consultations on this issue as being claimed, then such consultations were poorly conducted. The timing itself for such outrageous increments is simply horrible!

Why would anybody compare salaries drawn directly from the taxpayers’ account with those drawn from private accounts, from wealth created either through production or through membership contributions? Surely, the secretary general of ZCTU, an example Tentamashimba picked on, is not paid by the Zambian taxpayer.

Even going by the Cabinet justification as quoted by your paper makes very little sense! Why would a minister or worse still, a deputy minister want to equate their salary to that of a chief executive of a company or the Governor of the Bank of Zambia, even if it is a parastatal company?

These companies are supposed to run like any other company; they are supposed to create wealth from which such payments as salaries ought to be made. If not, they should be scrapped or liquidated, unless they are of vital value to the society like Zesco or the Bank of Zambia.

A politician holding office is basically unproductive, he does not create wealth as such. They are even countries in this world where politician’s role in national affairs is so insignificant that it really does not matter who holds political office. Such countries are doing very well economically, socially and in other areas.

Personally, I feel we would be better off as a nation if politicians did not have their fingers on every pie in this country. I would sympathise with a civil servant like permanent secretary or chief justice. Some of these people are very productive. Not a political office holder. He even relies on the civil servant for most of his work.

Besides, a politician is supposed to be a volunteer in service provision to his society. Making conditions of service for political office ultra attractive has already, in many cases, attracted the wrong type of politicians, the selfish type, the conman type. So why make the situation worse?

We have long outstanding serious problems in education. UNZA was going on unscheduled recess due to problems relating to inadequate funding from the government at the time Cabinet was approving its salary increments. In health, public health institutions are poorly funded and some political leaders prefer having their BP checked outside the country to parading themselves at these institutions.

In agriculture, fertiliser is now at K210,000 per 50kg and one wonders how a peasant farmer will afford this. The roads all over the country are in shambles save for a few along the line of rail, water blues have continued despite the country being blessed with abundant water resources which we have failed to harness successfully while arid countries like Botswana, Namibia have no water problems, townships are littered with uncollected garbage, the list is endless.

Timing is one of the cardinal factors to contend with in decision-making, especially on issues of public concern. For Cabinet to make such a decision as reported against this backdrop, clearly appears indecent and smacks of lack of concern for the general welfare of ordinary Zambians.

If you add this to the fact that this decision was made while the Republican President is still critically ill outside the country makes the whole thing stink. Several members of Cabinet have given such an impression over Dr Mwanawasa’s illness that it would not even cross their mind to think about increasing their salaries at this point in time!

This decision by Cabinet when critically analysed appear to speak volumes about the seriousness of the illness of our President despite the assurances we are receiving from the Vice-President, information minister and others.

If what Mr Sata has stated is true that President Mwanawasa was against implementing these increments, then who dares to give approval to this and more importantly why? Timing is extremely important. A fair decision would appear a bad one if poorly timed!

Cabinet should consider rescinding their decision on this one.




http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=44598

Cabinet in Levy's absence
By Benny Mumba C C
Sunday August 03, 2008 [14:00]

Accord me space in your paper to air my views over the abnormal and selfish salary increments for Cabinet and senior government officials.

Zambia is indeed headed for more of such behaviour from the people that are running the affairs of the country on behalf of Levy.

It was barely less than a month of Levy’s absence from Cabinet and our so-called ministers where busy abusing taxpayer’s money discussing salary increments.

I’m short of words. I don’t think if Levy was there he would have accepted a salary increment at the expense of those riotous students of Unza and other innocent citizens dying in UTH due to lack of proper medication and other important economic developmetal programmes for those few selfish individuals.

Ba Levy, I wish you were here. Fellow countrymen, let us hope for the best and prepare for the worst from these leaders.



http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=44603

Unreasonable Cabinet pay increments
By Concerned citizen
Monday August 04, 2008 [04:00]

The revelation in The Post of Friday, August 1, 2008 that ministers and other senior government officials have offered themselves handsome salary increments cannot go without comment.

The salary increments are unreasonable in the sense that Cabinet did not pay reasonable attention to factors that need its urgent intervention like education, health, agriculture and the poor road infrastructure in the country. I say so because Cabinet should have waited for the President to return as they have done with other issues.

The question I want to ask Cabinet is: who is going to sanction this scandal? I call it a scandal because it has no blessings from the President, as he is in France receiving medical attention. Why can’t the Vice-President put an end to this selfish move? Whose interests are the increments serving?

Is this increment not synonymous with the plunder of national resources? Who is going to save us from this looting of the national treasury before the President returns?

Labels: CABINET, CORRUPTION, GEOFFREY LUNGWANGWA, RUPIAH BANDA, UNZA

posted by MrK @ 9:28 PM