MPs should not be selfish
- Category: Comment
- Published Date
- Written by Nation Online
It reads like fiction that our MPs are demanding from government 500 litres in fuel allowance arrears dating back to 2009.
Regardless of the legislators’ justification, their demand of K4 225 800 per month per MP is an insult to the average Malawians who are struggling to adjust in the wake of the high cost of living due to the devaluation of the kwacha and unprecedented fuel price hikes.
It is a mockery to people who are dying in public hospitals because the country, in these tough economic times, is failing to supply medical drugs to health facilities.
Coming at a time the country is implementing austerity measures, the MPs should have been the first to suffer with the people by ensuring that government is only spending money on essential services.
We expect the MPs to know better the country’s economic status; hence, we are compelled to ask, where is the money going to come from?
That the money is enough to buy about 18 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for some 176 000 poor farmers and malaria doses for nine million children tells a tale about whose interests the legislators represent in Parliament. Theirs alone.
It is high time our MPs sobered up when it comes to their benefits and allowances and stopped being selfish people’s representatives.
