Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) MPs cost the taxpayer a wopping US$17 000 a day

COMMENT - I wonder how many of these MPs are MDC MPs.

MPs cost the taxpayer a wopping US$17 000 a day
TH/TZG
Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:16:00 +0000

IT costs US$17 000 in hotel bills every day that Parliament sits as the out-of-Harare members flock in and need somewhere to stay. So high are these bills that serious consideration is being given to establishing cheaper accomodation where MPs and senators can stay while in Harare.

The Parliament of Zimbabwe pays out US$70 per day for the 240 MPs — both House of Assembly members and senators who do not have alternative accommodation in Harare over and above other allowances they receive from the Government.

But it is understood that some Members of Parliament have been threatened with eviction after the Government failed to settle the bills.

In an interview last Friday, Principal Director in the Ministry of Finance (Budgets), Pfungwa Kunaka, acknowledged that the legislature was incurring huge costs on accommodation alone when Parliament was in session.

"Treasury through the President’s Office and Cabinet received an outcry from service providers who were threatening to chuck out MPs for unpaid hotel bills. For instance, MPs with no alternative accommodation in Harare will be staying in hotels for about three to four days when Parliament is in session.

"We obviously had to intervene and we managed to clear some debts in respect to Parliament, but we didn’t clear all the arrears because the services are expensive and unsustainable. That also includes transport and allowances for all MPs," he said.

Parliament is responsible for expenses incurred by MPs whenever they are on official business and these include airfares and other transport costs, hotel bookings and meals.

The legislature also owed Air Zimbabwe money for ferrying MPs, especially those from Bulawayo.

The fiscus is very strained and this has seen the Parliament accommodation debt accumulating for months before Treasury settles it.

Speaking in Parliament recently, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Fidelis Mhashu said: "We would save greatly if we do not accommodate MPs in hotels, they are very expensive. It would be better if they occupied houses that we built.

"As an example, the Speaker of the House of Assembly is staying in a hotel. It is very expensive. We are looking for funds to be able to build houses for Government ministers, our Speaker of the House of Assembly and MPs," Minister Mhashu said.

In an interview last week Finance Minister Tendai Biti gave the nod to building houses for MPs saying this would be in line with what other countries in the region were doing.

Minister Biti said in the short term, it would seem expensive but in the long term, it would prove to be the lasting solution to the accommodation crisis.

"Building a village for MPs and Government ministers would help reduce huge costs which are being incurred in hotels when MPs are booked in.

"Other countries in the region have a village for MPs. For instance, in South Africa, they have a village for MPs in Pretoria and they are saving a lot of money," Minister Biti said. - TH/TZG

He added that the other option would be renting a hotel or houses on a rent-to-buy basis to make sure Government saved the fiscus on accommodation costs.

"This might seem not to be a noble idea in the short term, but it will certainly be beneficial in the long term because members will only stay there when they are MPs. When they cease to be MPs, then those who come in will also stay in those houses," Mr Biti added.

The houses would not constitute exit packages for MPs.

Labels: HOUSING, MDC CORRUPTION, PARLIAMENT, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 3:59 PM