Not out of the woods yet
President Peter Mutharika should be wondering if his family is afflicted with some curse that everyone should throw ultimatums at them when it suits them. His brother, the late Bingu wa Mutharika, had his fair share of ultimatums, including the 60-day one, which expired after he had already descended to the hereinafter.
Now members of Parliament (MPs) are demanding their pound of flesh from President Mutharika before they can pass the National Budget. Is it déjà vu?
The MPs argue — and justifiably so — that the Constitution obligates the President to appear before the august House, report on the policies of the previous year and answer tough and embarrassing questions from the legislators.
Mutharika will feel hard done by, if the MPs stick to their guns, given that none of his predecessors submitted themselves to Parliamentary scrutiny in the matter demanded of him. For starters, there is potential for embarrassment if he yielded to Parliament’s wish.
As someone who declared that government business would be conducted unusually, he could call the MPs bluff by facing them in Parliament before this issue peters out into a sequel of ‘Budget No 1, Section 65 No. 2’ scenario. It would be a spectacle to behold but I am not counting on it happening.
On the other hand, civil servants have also issued their ultimatum; he increases their pay within 21 days, from June 1, or they will down their tools.
You have to be hard-hearted not to sympathise with the civil servants but let’s be realistic, our economy is a basket case as we speak, with barely enough to pass around.
The demand is ill-advised and ill-timed given that the government is broke, our Judiciary has had to suspend operations in some magistrates’ court due to shortage of stationery.
But, maybe, the government sometimes brings this upon itself. While government is asking everyone to tighten their belts, their argument loses candour when the budget for personal emoluments for the presidency rises from K33.6 million to K54 million and allocations to the State Residencies and other institutions allied to the presidency rise exponentially.
Mind, this is the same government which announced, rather dramatically, late last year that the president and his deputy — and the ministers — would not have adjustments to their personal emoluments until the economy moves to an even keel.
I don’t know which economic fundamentals the government is using that see the economy improve at the State House while it remains gloomy for everyone else.
Of course, the economic situation may not be as dire as November last year when that dramatic announcement was made, but we have not made substantial progress that sees allocations to the presidency increase. We are not out of the woods yet.
