Maravi

(HERALD) 2011 Budget under threat

2011 Budget under threat
By Zvamaida Murwira

MEMBERS of the House of Assembly have threatened to block passage of the 2011 National Budget if Finance Minister Tendai Biti does not agree to pay legislators and ministers US$3 000 monthly salaries.

The legislators from Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations were on Thursday united in their declaration. Sitting soon after Minister Biti presented his Budget, the legislators also said the Government should buy them new vehicles.

They said should salaries be raised to US$3 000, it would cost the State US$12 million per year, a figure they described as sustainable.

MPs currently earn around US$400 and the legislators say they have not been getting their sitting allowances.

Analysts have previously indicated that should the Budget not be passed, Presi-dent Mugabe might have to call general elections because the State will not be able to function.

Mwenezi East legislator Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti (Zanu-PF) moved the motion calling for the improvement of their welfare as well as that of civil servants.

The House unanimously adopted the motion, saying they would not be used as a rubberstamp for Bills from the Executive without interrogating them.

They said their welfare had over the years been overlooked and the only opportunity they had to flex their muscles was at a time like this when Minister Biti wanted them to pass the Budget.

On civil servants, they said teachers were relying on parents’ incentives.

Goromonzi North MP Cde Paddy Zha-nda (Zanu-PF),said Minister Biti’s perceived 8 percent economic growth had nothing to do with poverty alleviation.

"I want to appeal to Honourable Members that opportunity knocks on your door once in your lifetime and this opportunity that is before us today — we should not miss it.

"This is the last (Budget) knowing very well that next year there will be elections; we will be walking into poverty.

"We are our own liberators," said Cde Zhanda.

"It is common cause that if you want to control people, what you do first is to impoverish them then you subject them; this is what is happening."

On vehicles, he said many MPs were now pedestrians.

Cde Zhanda said like those in the executive and judiciary, legislators should have a personal and an official vehicle.

Failing to pay civil servants, he warned, would fan corruption.

"We have pretended to put up institutions that have not delivered at all — the Anti-Corruption Commission which has never prosecuted anybody despite various allegations of corrupt practices.

"Why is it difficult to do business in Zimbabwe?

"It’s because you are knocking on the door of a permanent secretary who earns US$200 with a US$10 million project, it does not make sense.

"In actual fact our situation scares away investors."

He urged legislators to rise above party politics to push for the improvement of their welfare.

MP for Zaka Central Mr Harrison Mudzuri (MDC-T) said a government was judged by how it paid its workers.

He said the salaries they were earning were not consistent with the title "Honou-rable".

His colleague from Uzumba, Cde Simba Mudarikwa (Zanu-PF), said failing to adequately pay MPs and civil servants would promote institutionalised corruption.

"We have inherited a situation that is very difficult . . . that people who were members of this august House always used to say ‘yes’.

"They were professional rubber stampers," he added.

Buhera Central representative Mr Tangwara Matimba (MDC-T) chipped in: "We are saying this Government should look more into the plight of civil servants, MPs and everybody who works for it instead of giving priority to foreign trips and parastatals that are getting broke, that are being siphoned by others in the executive.

Mhondoro MP Cde Bright Matonga (Zanu-PF) said the title "Honourable" came with a status that he said was not consistent with their salaries.

He said legislators had nothing to show to their families for spending so much time away from home.

"It is actually leaving a trail of destruction in our family fabrics and relationships," he said.

Minister Biti’s Budget proposals included US$1,4 billion for State workers’ salaries.

This is about double the US$733 million allocated to this end in 2010.

In his US$2,7 billion Budget Statement, Minister Biti said conditions of service for MPs and the judiciary — which have traditionally guided negotiations encompassing civil servants representatives — will now be determined by Parliament’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee and provisions of the Judicial Services Act respectively.

Zimbabwean legislators say they earn far less than their colleagues from around the world, and often cite the example of Kenyan MPs who are said to have gross salaries of above US$10 000.

Labels: 2011 BUDGET (ZIMBABWE), MDC CORRUPTION, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 3:18 AM