BILL SEVEN CRIPPLING EXPENSES
Minister of Information Cornelius Mweetwa is denying or distorting reality when he makes the claim that the infamous and discredited Bill 7 will bring in savings of about three hundred million Kwacha as most by-elections would be done away with.
This is classic gaslighting by the UPND as the opposite is actually the case. Bill 7 will run up billions of Kwacha in extra costs.
The provision which talk of increasing constituencies with the addition of fifty five new ones to be topped up with a further thirty nominated members of parliament is not a cheap exercise.
On average Parliamentary Committees have ten to twelve members. With these over eighty five new members of Parliament; the committees with average twenty to twenty two members each. This means the committee costs will double.
Some of the costs of the committees relate to;
Their sittings in Lusaka
Countrywide tours transportation, lodging and allowances
Each committee on average has at least one foreign trip outside the country with airfares, hotel lodging etc in dollars.
Foreign travel sitting allowances in dollars
These costs will double because of Bill 7.
Each Member of Parliament has a Constituency Office. This means at least fifty five more Constituency Offices will have to be built. The Constituency office electricity, water and security bills are also paid.
Each Constituency office has members of staff to run them. More expense created by Bill Seven.
Extra housing will have to be found and paid for the extra MPs created by Bill 7 when the house is sitting. Parliament Motel does not have enough rooms to cater for this increase.
During sittings the cost of tea breaks will double due to the extra members of Parliament.
During sittings the cost of breakfast, lunch and supper will double due to the extra members of Parliament.
Each Member of Parliament has;
a monthly salary of ZMW20,237.75 each (which comes to ZMW242,853 each yearly.)
A Constituency allowance (even for the nominated members of Parliament)
Fuel allowance
Car allowance
Special utility allowance
Daily sitting allowances in the House
Daily sitting allowances for Committee sittings
Duty free vehicle (not a Vitz but a high end four wheel drive)
Mid term gratuity
End of term gratuity
Just the cost of the gratuities for the eighty five proposed new MPs will eclipse the three hundred million saving that Information Minister is claiming.
Another cost which is very large for the maintenance of Members of Parliament is the medical bills. Quite often parliamentarians are sent out to South Africa or India for medical treatment. This is no doubt costly.
Bill 7 will create many more MPs who will be amongst those who will have to get medical treatment abroad as we do not have sufficient numbers of resident doctors. The number of available doctors will actually fall further as government says it does not have enough money to pay them.
What is saddening is that whilst pushing for these billions of Kwacha of new expenses arising from Bill 7, the Minister of Health has revealed that we do not have sufficient resources as a country to pay our resident doctors.
The cost attached to each new Member of Parliament could easily cater for at least forty resident doctors salaries meaning that we could easily pay and employ almost 3,500 resident doctors.
As the United Opposition we are calling upon the government to priotorise the health of the nation over the rejected Bill 7 and start paying resident doctors and employing more of them.
This are but a few, and certainly not all, of the Bill Seven crippling expenses.
In Africa politics is about good eating, so we need bill 7 to promote eating. But this is another debt we are entering into.
The expenses become crippling only when you have not been invited to the table. Sincerity seriously lacks in much of our politicians.
*politics
Exactly, Saki is known for his sending crippling bills that leaves those he represents bankrupt. When you have such an attitude and turn probono in legal fees after the fact as we noted in the Saboi utterances. Saki is nothing but a hypocrite.
MPs get cars that use during their tenure of office (duty free loans by the way) clerks of the National assembly too (which I dont understand why and is an abuse of office). This is said salary (which is sitting allowance for attending Parliament (and doubt what Saki cites) is where the car loan is deducted against. Remember non Lusaka resident MP then live at Parliament Motel and are charged meals and cost of accomodation. So in all real terms the margins in all this means an MP has to be thrift. In cash outflows to the MPs is really norminal than what Saki suggests. If anything, we saw a report that suggests the cost of being an MP is high in campaign cost and all (around 2million). The risk borne to be elected and the time that graduitity is paid is another 4 years. So unless you bill the way Saki billed MMD and got their cars. Being an MP is not for the feeble pocketed neither is it a state cash cow. Its about public service, delivery of that service and not lining of ones pockets. Ba Saki public service is not for you ndate. Yours is just about you and your pocket
Saki, when your sabordinate goes to an extent of expelling you as a president, it means that your leadership is questionable and whatever you say is not worthy paying attention to. No wonder you currently don’t have followers as far as your so called party is concerned