MPs agree, always, on one thing
August 10 2023
M
embers of Parliament can be a funny lot. Not funny ha-ha but funny strange!
Imagine, the other day parliamentarian Kamlepo Kalua called for the pardon of former minister and parliamentarian Henry Mussa. The reason being that Mussa had served the country well.
The pardon was granted. It is questionable what benchmarks are used to gauge who gets the pleasure of the President to be pardoned. It is, indeed, questionable because, you see, Mussa’s co-accused, Gedion Munthali is still doing time in jail.
I digress.
MPs are a funny lot. They can disagree on all fronts, but not on their perks. When it comes to their emoluments, they speak one language.
The other day, Chitipa South legislator Werani Chilenga hinted on bringing to the House a bill that would put MPs on pension. His reasoning: They serve the nation greatly!
Well, that is not the funniest of all. Some other MPs say they are in concord with Chirenga. As if that is not funny, strange enough, these MPs say they would rather not come out in the open for fear of repercussions.
This choice to air their views under veil is a clear indication that they would only want such pension to enrich themselves at the expense of their voters.
The MPs work on contract and their contract is extended or terminated by the constituents. Are contracted workers ever on pension? Not to our knowledge.
Currently, there are 193 parliamentarians. With the re-demarcation, there will be 228 MPs from 2025. Thinking of these 228 MPs getting pension after every five years, one would wonder how worth that pension would be.
If they are to bring the bill into the House, chances are high that the MPs will move that the voting be done by secret ballot. That way, their constituents would not know who let the bill pass.
If at all the bill passes, would President Lazarus Chakwera assent to it? That, for that matter, would really show what type of leader he is.
MPs have more serious issues to discuss now than whether they should be queuing on the 14th of every month like every other retired civil servant. Look at the food situation!
Maize is selling, at most, at K55 000. It is estimated that about 4 million people are at risk of hunger. This is only August and we are far from the lean period that starts in November.
Instead of treating us the pension sommersaults, parliamentarians could have done well to discuss how best the sky-rocketing of maize prices could be curbed.
In their funny and wishful thinking, the MPs can’t discuss that.
As an end note, I pay homage to Goodall Gondwe who died on Wednesday. As far as my memory serves me, Gondwe has been a power horse Minister of Finance. The high inflation we are talking about today, he slashed from 30 to six percent. That is just a piece of his calibre.
May his soul rest in peace.
