Maravi

Salary increments for public servants

Salary increments for public servants
By The Post
Wed 01 Aug. 2012, 10:40 CAT

Economic justice requires that each individual has adequate resources to survive, to develop and thrive, and to give back in service to the community. This, therefore, means that employees have a strict duty to give their employers efficient and conscientious work for which they have a right to a just salary.

The Zambian people should give those who work for them, those who serve them in government and state institutions an honest salary and then ask them for more substantial support.

But this is not to say those who hold state jobs should go off into wild flights of fancy and give themselves salaries that are not in tune with the country's economic realities, salaries that are unwarranted by the objective situation, or stretch for the impossible. If there is need for austerity measures in difficult periods or times, they should be equally shared among all.

The dignity of public service, like the dignity of all work, must be recognised with just salaries and other conditions of service. In fact, we have to show gratitude to those who sacrificed themselves in our service. Again, in saying so, we are not in any way advocating unjustifiably high salaries.

Unreasonably high salaries for public servants may be dangerous because they can destroy their capacity to speak in a forthright manner and tell the people to tighten their belts.

What should be sought is remuneration that guarantees our public servants a dignified livelihood for themselves and for their children. Public service should not mean that one has chosen to live in poverty.

If a man thinks dedicating his entire life to the service of others as a political leader, as a public servant means that in return he should not have such worries as that his children or his family lack certain things, lack some necessity, then he is entering into rationalisations which open his mind to infection by the seeds of future corruption.

Our public servants and their families should have or should go without those things that the families of the average man have or go without, and they should strive to uphold this standard. A more just, fair and humane society is established through man, but man must forge his spirit of fairness, justice and humaneness day by day.

Generally, wages and salaries in this country have gone up considerably over the last few years. And also the cost of living has not been going down, it has actually shot up in a very big way. Zambia is said to be one of the most expensive destinations or countries in Africa. Yet, the salaries of many people in the civil service are still relatively very low.

A salary of slightly over K300 million per annum, that is about K25 million per month, is not that high for a president of the Republic. And K149 million per annum, that is K12.4 million per month, is certainly not excessive for a Cabinet minister. And K140 million per annum, that is K11.6 million per month, for a member of parliament cannot be said to be too high a salary.

We have to be realistic about these things and put ourselves in the shoes of those serving in these positions.
It is clear to us that with such low salaries, those in public service are one way or another not living on their salaries.

It is either they are spending most of their time attending to their private businesses or are using their offices to make more money for themselves. We shouldn't forget that public offices, from that of the president to that of the lowest public worker, have many opportunities for making money.

This is so because these offices do not only create opportunities for making money but they also handle gigantic sums of money and decide how and where it is spent. It is they who decide how many foreign or local trips they should undertake and how much travel allowances they should collect.

What we fail to give them in salaries, they will pay themselves in other ways like travel allowances, sitting allowances and so on and so forth. If we really want to have control on government expenditure, the starting point is to pay public servants well. After doing so, then we can clamp down on other undesirable things they are doing to earn more for themselves.

Ridiculously low salaries are not a cost-saving measure. They are actually a recipe for corruption and more undesirable ways of increasing government expenditure. In saying this, we are not in any way saying that high salaries in themselves will stop corruption, will reduce government expenditure.

There are people who are never satisfied with any amount of money - the more you give them, the more they want. In every community, there are men of base instincts; there are selfish people who don't care about others, who only care about themselves and want everything for themselves without thinking of others.

If they are offered a drink from a river of blood, they will not be satisfied until they drink the river dry. To such men, high salaries mean nothing, and will not stop them from stealing public funds or engaging in corrupt activities. So, here, we are talking about decent people, who have concern for others and who shouldn't be pushed to corruption by low salaries.

It is clear that these public service jobs are not highly paying undertakings. But the question is: why are people so thirsty for these jobs and some even appear to be ready to kill for these jobs? There are hidden benefits - and some of them not so hidden.

These offices have been used to amass wealth. Look at Rupiah Banda! Look at where he was financially before becoming president! Look at where he is financially three years after, when his salary was only K188 million per annum! And the maximum Rupiah could have collected in salaries over three years is only K564 million. But look at the buildings he has constructed in less than two years without any loans from any bank! Where did the money come from? It cannot be from any source other than the use of his office.

What about people like Austin Liato! The highest salary Liato got from government was K86 million per annum as a Cabinet minister. But Liato was able to acquire so many things without ever taking loans and was even able to bury billions of kwacha in the belly of the earth. How was this possible? It was only possible through the use, or rather abuse, of his office.

Liato had very little, if not nothing, before he entered politics and became a minister. But today Liato is a rich man. We are not singling out Rupiah and Liato for victimisation. We are simply showing them as examples of how salaries don't really matter for some of our politicians and how political jobs can be so rewarding financially and otherwise.

These are things we need to take into account when looking at the salaries and other conditions of service for our public servants and the restrictions we should impose on them to serve public interest to the fullest. You can see why Rupiah and his friends had to remove the abuse of office offence from our statute books.

Let's pay our public servants well and then equally hold them accountable for the use of their time, which we have purchased. And also, in addition to this, we should make sure they spend all their time on the work we are paying them for and not on their businesses. If they want to continue to be businessmen, let them leave and go and run their businesses. And if they try to use their offices to salvage their declining business fortunes, then the Anti Corruption Commission should set on them for corruption.

It was for this reason, and to avoid such abuses, that Dr Kenneth Kaunda introduced the leadership code in order to ensure that the decisions made by public officers are not made for self-interest but for the benefit of the people.

Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, SALARIES

posted by MrK @ 2:34 PM