Give us a million each to do our work- Zimbabwe MP says

Zimbabwe opposition legislator Peter Moyo has asked Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube to pay each Member of Parliament a million dollars to do their work over the next six months otherwise some would not return to the House.

Speaking during the debate on the supplementary budget presented last month, Moyo who said he would be speaking in Ndebele so that the minister could understand him said the US$100 that legislators were earning had made them a laughing stock.

“I suggest that for the remaining six months, you should allocate Z$1 million to each Member of Parliament so that we carry out our duties well because if you do not give us this money, some Hon Members are going to fail to come back to Parliament.

“Some Hon. Members from ZANU PF have mines and now they are using that money from the mines to carry out their duties in their constituencies.  Some are campaigning using their own monies so that they come back to Parliament,” he said.

Full contribution:

HON. PETER MOYO: I want to speak in isiNdebele so that the Minister will understand what I want to say. The money that is being allocated to Hon. Members at Parliament is like they are not given anything at all. Parliament is part of Government but if you look at the Executive, they are able to carry out their duties without facing any challenges. If you look again at the Judiciary, they are able to carry out their duties without any hindrances. If you look at Hon. Members, they are incapable of doing their duties. Right now, we are going around the country as Committees to carry out our duties but it is unfortunate that the hotels are not being paid for. Again there is no fuel for Members of Parliament.

I should start by looking at the welfare of Hon. Members. Members of Parliament are earning US$100 per month. We are now a laughing stock. I suggest that for the remaining six months, you should allocate Z$1 million to each Member of Parliament so that we carry out our duties well because if you do not give us this money, some Hon Members are going to fail to come back to Parliament. Some Hon. Members from ZANU PF have mines and now they are using that money from the mines to carry out their duties in their constituencies.  Some are campaigning using their own monies so that they come back to Parliament.

The issue of CDF has been buttressed by some Hon. Members. I am not going to repeat that. On duty free vehicles that you proposed, it isgoing to teach us to be crooks. Do not arrest us if we do things illegally because it is like you are offering us a free passport to pilot a plane  yet I do not know how to fly a plane. I will look for someone to do that job for me. Hon. Minister, you have already lost out by offeringus that US$60000 duty free. That is money from Government. I am suggesting that if you had negotiated car dealers to give Members of Parliament cars in good condition, that will be much better because if you drive a car from Victoria Falls to Harare, it will breakdown along the road as we are already witnessing some of the Hon Members’ cars breaking down along the road. We are requesting from you Hon. Minister, that we should go to these companies and get vehicles which are in good condition and also you should pay these companies for we do not want them to get broke. This is the Second Republic we are looking up to. Do not teach us to be crooks.

For Members of Parliament who are living in Harare, we are suffering the worst for we are staying at our homes yetour colleagues are staying in hotels but you are not giving us anything at all. There is no allowance that you are giving us by using our homes where we pay electricity and water charges. We also want an allowance for that.

On the issue of diesel, we do not want these coupons from PetroTrade. Let us use Redan because they have service stations everywhere yet PetroTrade has only two service stations in Harare. In Mutare there is no PetroTrade and in Bulawayo there is only one. In Mberengwa and Gwanda there is none. We should increase the budget on everything that I have raised. I thank you.

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