COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
By Manson Mutumba
For simplicity purposes, try to view this article on the basis of a hypothetical far far future, but under present social-political-economic-judicial conditions
I will start by saying that the idea of proportional representation is good, but the method used to implement it has massive costs compared to the benefits when we factor in game theory AKA prisoner’s dilemma implications. I will conclude this analysis with what I believe could have been the best approach to advancing proportional representation to eliminate these costs.
So, 40 Members of Parliament have been appointed to the National Assembly; this is good because the salaries and the bonuses that these MPs will be receiving given the slave wages and unemployment rate in the country, may trickle down to others. We can put this benefit in Kwacha figures by multiplying the monthly salary of one MP by 12 months by 5 years, on top of that, add the gratuity of one MP by 40. In my own estimation, this is about ZMK144,000,000 in salaries + ZMK200,000,000 in gratuities at the end of the tenure bringing the total to ZMK344,000,000 this is minus the bonuses or any other special privileges that an MP receives. Please, please pay attention to the following points;
– The appointed MPs have done nothing wrong, and all of them qualify to be Members of Parliament (grade 12 certificate is the minimum requirement last time I checked, so, basically, anyone with a grade 12 certificate qualifies).
– These salaries are paid by all Zambians, it’s not the political parties or the president that pays these salaries.
In total, the accounting cost is ZMK344 million, I will get to the social political judicial costs later, after I break down the benefits.
1. The most obvious benefit is the employment and financial empowerment of these people.
2. The second benefit is what the appointment of these people in parliament represents, which include, the implied trickle down benefits to their relevant proportional demographics, youths, women and persons with disabilities on the assumption that they will be using their presence in parliament to advocate for those in their demographics. Ok, fair enough, let’s see what happens on these implied benefits when we start measuring the social economic well being of these population demographics reflecting the proportional representation in parliament from time to time. Microeconomics matrices (individuals, homes and firms) should be used with regards to these demographics, rather than merely citing growth matrices and qualifying it as the basis of successful representation.
Now, here are the costs (implied just as there are implied benefits as explained using the above assumptions).
*The prisoner’s dilemma AKA game theory implications:* So, the Proportional Representation MPs are appointed by the political parties AKA presidents of those political parties. The other 226 MPs get to Parliament only by really really breaking their backs and pockets to show that they will serve the interests of the people, and that they will even go against any opposing powers that include those above them in their political party structures to serve their constituencies, examples are Iris Kaingu going against the president and making it to parliament as an independent MP by the people’s approval, along with the historical defections of some MPs from their parties on principle. This means that the appointed MPs under proportional representation lack the autonomy of defecting against their political party presidents even in the interest of the nation and people without being removed from parliament.
*The Costs on Limiting Presidential Powers:* If the president wants to pass a law to have the freedom to appoint his/her great grandmother as the head of the electoral body or a military wing; he/she is assured that the proportional representation MPs under his/her party will do his/her bidding in parliament (remember it is the Zambian people paying these MPs and not the party or the president, and yet, these MPs are his/her personal servants).
An appointed MP who refuses on principle of national or people’s interests is replaced by a readily available willing person with a grade 12 certificate or higher credential. Factoring in the prisoner’s dilemma AKA game theory implications, It is very unlikely for an appointed MP to defect against the president and lose the MP paychecks and privileges only to face the financial and political uncertainties of our African countries (I will be surprised if I hear even one appointed MP challenge a social injustice caused by their political party’s governing methods)
So, when we factor in the cost, ZMK344 million plus the prisoner’s dilemma AKA game theory implications and the impact on democracy, is this a fair deal against the benefits of the current proportional representation system of getting into parliament?
I will conclude by saying that proportional representation should have been done at the political party adoption levels and have separate election categories where the persons with disabilities, the women, and the youths can go and ask the people to be voted into the National Assembly. The additional Kwacha costs of this separate elections category for proportional representation are way less to the costs of having Members of Parliament without any autonomy that only serve at the pleasure of the president, such that they can only defect against the people and the nation’s interest, and subsequently diminishing our democracy in the self interest of keeping a paycheck.
Some of the appointed MPs are dear friends of mine, I am really happy for them and can only wish them the best in their tenures, but these are conversations that I can freely have with them face to face under good laughs because they would take my comments in this article to be consistent with my novels and nonfiction books on themes such as corruption, illicit financial flows, cyber security, transparency, accountability and inclusive banking systems. Even though I give this critic and maintain my position on the costs, I will say that it’s really uplifting to see such young people becoming honorables
Manson Mutumba
Author/Writer