This is the only Parliament in the world where you regret not being a Member of Parliament. If you want to see how poor they are out there, the pension is not good enough, the allowances are not good enough yet they would have served this country. This is the time this year this budget must address the welfare of the Members of Parliament. As Members of Parliament, we have been labeled in a bad way because of our welfare. People look at our welfare and already they judge us and say Members of Parliament are not able to do A, B, C, D because of our welfare and that perception can only go away if this issue is addressed.
I want to talk about the role of the Members of Parliament on the ICT. Today we are in the ICT world – Ipads are not here, they do not have the computers yet we are expected to follow. You can see even at times Parliament does not even give us this Order Paper on time but, if we all have Ipads, we are able to take notes. This is the world that we are faced with at the end of the day and it is important that Parliament is capacitated in that way.
I want to also talk about the sitting allowances. They mean absolutely nothing. The Committee that I chair can sit from 8 to 8 in the evening working for this country but what they get is a pittance $75, not US dollar. Bond cash is better than RTGS and these are people who are working tirelessly for this country in those Committees. Those Committees have a risk on their own because you are exposing people who have money and who have the ability to even put a mafia together for you but what do we get – $75. That has to be reviewed because you want Members of Parliament to be able to execute their duties in a professional manner and that can only happen when they are sitting there and they are able to be given an allowance which is conducive. We meet on Mondays where the kitchen is closed and they are hungry – they do not eat.
You expect people to work yet they do not even get lunch when they are here and this budget must address the welfare of the players from even eating well.
We are talking about wanting to be a world class Parliament but we only have a one course meal and the dessert is an apple/banana yet when we go out to other areas we get trifle, a nice fruit salad, custard, ice cream and all that. But, look at what we get here – a mere banana and apple. There is no soup. The diet of Members of Parliament is important. Nutrition is important because when Members do not eat well, they do not function well. So, it is important that the nutrition of the Members of Parliament is maintained in order that they are able to discharge their duties.
Mr. Chairman, the Hon. Minister must understand that there is a programme called wellness. Wellness is the wellbeing of the Members of Parliament. They do not even have a gym where they can go to. They do not even have a sports club where they can go to and recreation is important for the mind. They are stressed in here. We have Members of Parliament dying because of blood pressure and stress that you know. So, how many more are going to die before we rescue the situation. We must have a recreation club where we play golf or choose any sport that we want to partake in. We must be able to have world class gyms where we are able to train because when you are strong physically, mentally, it equally helps you.
So, this is the world class Parliament that we are talking about. I want to talk about the issue of fuel coupons given to Members. Already, Parliament has actually cut down what Members are supposed to get. What we used to get in the Eighth Parliament is not what we get now. So, now you are saying to yourself, even the coupons that we got in the Eighth Parliament were not enough. Members of Parliament are people with integrity and dignity. Trust them and give them a whole book and let them have a book and not be scrounging around for coupons. We queue up like little children for coupons which are not even enough.
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