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Owen Gagare
THE government could have unjustifiably forked out millions of dollars as sitting allowances to undeserving legislators who each earned a flat fee of US$15 000 as it has emerged that a number of legislators rarely attend parliament.
The country has 244 serving legislators, meaning more than US$3,6 million was spent on the allowances.
Legislators said some of their colleagues rarely attended parliamentary sessions or committee meetings and therefore deserved far less, an allegation confirmed by party chief whips.
“We have some super MPs who only attend sessions when there are crucial debates. Some of the MPs only show their face about once or twice a month and clearly, they don’t deserve US$15 000,” said an MP who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The blanket flat fee was against the agreed position where MPs were to get US$75 for every sitting.
Zanu PF chief whip Joram Gumbo confirmed that if MPs were to get US$75 per sitting, some would have taken home as little as US$1 000.
“We have been pushing for MPs to be given their sitting allowances, which is not a favour, but their right. We had agreed that the rate would be US$75 per sitting, whether it’s in parliament or in committees, so basically each member was to be paid according to the number of sittings,” said Gumbo.
“To the best of my knowledge, parliament is still working on consolidating those figures so that they determine the amount each MP is entitled to. I don’t know how the blanket payment came about, but what I know is that parliament was supposed to consolidate figures and send them to Treasury for the MPs to be paid. If the MPs were to be paid according to attendance some would have got around US$1 000, especially those who became ministers, and those who were not attending sessions,” Gumbo said.
MDC chief whip Edward Mkhosi said he was pleased that MPs finally got paid their allowances after years of waiting. He, however, said some MPs could be asked to repay the money if they were found to have not been attending parliamentary business.
“They were paid a flat sum, although we had agreed that the payment would be based on the number of sittings. I’m being told that those who deserve more will get additional allowances while those who got more than they deserve may pay back,” said Mkhosi.
The chairperson of the inter-party welfare committee, Paddy Zhanda, said legislators who were going around complaining about the allowances given to their undeserving colleagues were being selfish.
“They are being selfish. They should look at their pockets instead of what is in another person’s pocket,” Zhanda said.
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said parliament had nothing to do with the payments and said they could have come directly from Treasury or the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs.
Zvoma said his staff was still compiling records to determine the amounts the MPs were supposed to receive.
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga said he had heard concerns from some legislators, but said the US$15 000 was only a working figure.
Matinenga said the concerns were genuine and his ministry would confirm the actual figures owed to each legislator before topping up the difference for legislators who deserve more and asking those who received more than they deserved to pay back the difference.
Legislators had not been given their sitting allowances since the inception of the seventh parliament in 2008.
They had threatened not to approve the 2012 budget presented by Finance minister Tendai Biti in November last year in an effort to arm-twist the government to pay them.
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