editorial comment
Politicians are sometimes a strange and eccentric lot. These men and women who are tasked with making laws for the rest of us and are supposed to represent our interests in parliament often seem to believe they are there only to look after themselves.
Last week we had Zanu PF legislator Christopher Peter Chingosho (Headlands MP) raising a matter of privilege with the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, requesting that Parliament raises salaries for MPs to US$7 000 per month from the current equivalent of US$170.
Chingosho pleaded with Mudenda to take up this request with Cabinet as a matter of urgency, saying MPs were now unable to take care of their families due to their poor salaries.
Our MPs earn about ZW$17 000 per month and also get about $7 500 sitting allowance each time they attend Parliament. They also receive regular fuel coupons and now they want the fuel issued in US$ coupons.
Female MPs represented by Mutasa North MP Chido Mudiwa weighed in with their own demand for a nursery and breastfeeding room in the august house before opposition leader Tendai Biti joined in the debate with a request for members to be provided with a gymnasium inside Parliament.
Mudenda promised to have all these issues looked into, saying he had been in a meeting the previous day discussing these and other issues to do with the comfort of MPs.
It is no secret government does not have money and the reason is that money is stolen by these same politicians who have plundered national resources like there is no tomorrow.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Now, while the generality of Zimbabweans must bear the effects of this plunder, the same politicians seek to chisel out more national cake for themselves!
A greater depth of wickedness than this is not easy to imagine. Do these men and women really think they have done so well during their time in office when they presided over such misery, that people would approve of this obscene salary rise?
What really do these MPs have to show for their performance? What stands out is national plunder, mega-scandals of corruption, cronyism, all-round lawlessness, and a litany of other evils.
After their ruthless cannibalism of national wealth, the scavengers now want to gnaw at the remaining bare bones!
This nocturnal conspiracy by politicians to hand themselves hefty salaries should be resisted.
There is absolutely no justification for politicians to want to reward themselves for having managed to grow rich over the two years that they have been in this dysfunctional government.
