By A Correspondent- Legislators are spending lots of time begging for fuel coupons in ministers’ offices, Norton member of parliament Temba Mliswa has revealed.
He said this in parliament Thurday.
Said Mliswa:
Mr Speaker Sir, I want to bring to your attention that the coupons which Members of Parliament get are in RTGs. The going accepted price is in US dollars so the coupons that we have are as good as useless. Parliament had said that there would be dedicated service stations for Members of Parliament. To date nothing has happened and yet these coupons that you give us mean nothing. Is it possible for Parliament to give us coupons in US dollars, because that is what is on the market?
We cannot continue lying to ourselves as people who represent people when we come to this House we are told one thing and are now wondering who is really supposed to have oversight because us who are supposed to have oversight also do not know what is happening.
So, I implore your good office to stick to what you say to Members of Parliament that fuel will be in these centres and we would like to get a response from you today before Members of Parliament leave. Are you going to facilitate service stations for them to get fuel so that moving forward we know clearly what is happening?
Members of Parliament are not free to debate when they do not know how they are going to get home. So it is important that the matter be resolved today and we get the way forward from you.
The other issue is on the allowances and salaries given to Members of Parliament. I brought this issue up the last time and I said it was as good as US$50 per person. We are not at all immune from what happens. We equally are citizens of this country and pay whatever price of commodities on the market.
The amount of money that we are being paid is not helping at all. I even said how you do you feel as our leaders going to bed knowing that your Members of Parliament are getting US$50 per month. With Covid-19 which is there right now they are not able to travel, there are no allowances oversees and it is even harder for us.
You will soon be reading stories of Members of Parliament pick pocketing, stealing things in supermarkets and so forth and then the next thing you will be blaming us saying that we are not setting a good example.
Do not tempt us to do the wrong things when this Government and this institution can protect us by giving us a fair salary at the end of the day. Ministers are given coupons, they go to CMED and everything is fine for them but we are not doing well.
I think the leader of Government Business Hon. Ziyambi must feel for us and I think must do something in terms of our packages at the end of day. Surely US$50 for a Member of Parliament!
How many times have we gone to Kenya for benchmarking but when we come back the benchmarking does not mean anything. They are paid US$10 000 to $15 000 per month, ten personnel in the office, a 4×4 and a Mercedes Benz. We only get one car after five years.
Even the things that we are getting right now are actually minimal at the end of the day so the welfare of Members of Parliament must be taken seriously.
Others have died and they never got their cars. Even the vehicles which they are supposed to get, some of them have not gotten the vehicles but the Ministers have gotten two cars each.
So how do we move as a nation when the very same arm that you expect to have oversight is compromised at the end of the day. We are spending time in Ministers offices begging for coupons instead of us coming here.
How do we then ask them questions when they are giving us coupons and they are looking after us? We can no longer be compromised, we are not children,. We came here to serve the nation. Give us the tools to serve the nation. I thank you.”