Pay MPs and ministers ¢39 million a month

The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, Mr. Alban Bagbin has suggested that Members of Parliament (MPs) and ministers of state should be paid a monthly salary of ¢39 million (US$4,200), if the state is to cut down on waste in the public sector and save money for development.

Mr. Bagbin argued that if ministers and MPs are paid the proposed amount ,instead of the current arrangement of the state providing MPs, ministers and their deputies, with accommodation, vehicles and vehicle maintenance allowances, fuel, drivers, house-helps, garden boys, in addition to paying up their monthly utility bills, the nation could reduce the total spending on public officials by about 40%.

The Minority Leader made the proposal while contributing to an open forum on how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can assist government to generate enough revenue for development.

The forum, was part of the deliberations of a three-day National workshop on “Civic Participation in the National Budget Process” organized by the Institute For Democratic Governance (IDEG) in collaboration with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

It was part of a programme to collate CSOs inputs to the 2007 budget statement which is to be read on the 9th of November 2006. MPs, District and Metropolitan Chief Executives, District and Regional Planning officers, Women groups, and members of the disable community, the media and academia attended the function.

Mr. Bagbin said, his proposal stems from the recognition that if government is indeed interested in generating enough revenue for its activities, it either has to cut down waste or broaden the revenue base by roping in all those enterprises that are outside the tax net.

He told Public Agenda later in an interview that he has always advocated a system whereby public officials, are not accommodated by the state. Instead, provision should be made in their salary for rent like all other workers. “That can save a lot of money, not only in terms of the rental value of the structures they live in, but the utility bills, the maintenance of the structures, particularly, the frequent changes of furniture in those structures that go with the change of ministers.”

He disclosed that each time there is a change of government or a ministerial reshuffle or new MPs are elected, either new accommodation facilities are acquired with all their interior decorations, furniture, beddings, curtains etc, changed or the new ministers and MPs are housed in hotels, at huge costs to the tax payer.

He cited for instance that in year 2005, parliament had to accommodate all the 112 newly MPs in hotels at a minimum cost of about $60.00 a day, because either those who had lost were yet to vacate their premises or government was yet to renovate and replace the interior decorations.

He calculated that the $60 a day multiplied by 365 days by 112 MPs, would have cost the nation about $2.5 million, an equivalent of about ¢22.6 billion, just to accommodate 112 MPs. This amount does not include the MPs’ salaries and other emoluments and allowances. It does not also include the cost of renovation and replacement of furniture and other interior decorations, which the state would have to bear to keep the 112 MPs, says Bagbin.

Mr. Bagbin also proposed that transport facilities for ministers should be removed and that public officials should not be allowed to keep their official vehicles.

“All official vehicles should be manned by official drivers who will take the officials for official duties, drop the official in his or her house, go and park the official car and go by public transport home” he suggested, adding that this is practiced in many countries bent on fighting corrupt. He said by doing this, the country would discourage the use of official vehicles for private purposes, especially for funerals, festivals, outdooring and church services.