K80 000 per month for councillors? Mmmmm……..!

I passionately supported the cause to have councillors earn, at least, a monthly ‘something’. The brief of their job reveals a need for some logistical support.

But honestly speaking, I did not expect a whooping windfall: K80 000 per month, a motor-cycle loan and a sitting allowance between K7 000 and K10 000.

I am not sure if the K80 000 will be taxed. But whichever way, I feel government has overreacted to the councilor’s remuneration problem. I feel we have given them more than necessary.

Their job, in the first place, does not involve reporting to work everyday like teachers and nurses. It is event driven.

I would have been comfortable if their perks were also event driven—even that of MPs. That could, at least, minimise the K36 million wage bill which our poor economy will meet every month. With an economy which is recovering, are we really making sense here?

Not only that.

The gesture also does not speak well of other key professionals who are reeling in the depth of laughable conditions of service. Think about primary and secondary school teachers. Health officials. Forestry officials. Extension workers. And all that…!

Most of these people who work in the sectors are well trained—in fact some are university graduates.  Check their pay-slips if there is K80 000 in it. Ask them if they ever receive a K7000 to K10 000 sitting allowance. Probe them if they have ever had a motor-cycle loan.

Are we saying councillors, suddenly, have become more important than these other professionals?

The paradox of it all is that a constituency which does not have a borehole will now have a highly paid MP, two councillors with descent remuneration and a stringent of paid-up chiefs. And we complain why we do not have safe water points in our villages?

Surely, though I passionately supported the call for councillors to have ‘something’, I feel the response from government beats every sense of reasoning. It is just another gesture to show Malawians that politicians are more important in Malawi than a primary school teacher who gets K20 000 a month.