Government rebuffs Members of Parliament pay hike
Government says it has rebuffed a 70 percent pay hike demand by Members of Parliament (MPs), saying they will get a uniform 10 percent just like any other public servant.
Finance Minister, Goodall Gondwe, said in an interview on Friday the government was too broke to effect a 70 percent pay hike for the legislators.
“We have told them that the government has no money. They will get the 10 percent salary increase just like other public officers,” Gondwe said.
Spokesperson for the National Assembly, Leonard Mengezi, refused to comment on the matter, saying Gondwe was the right person to speak on the issue.
“As Parliament, we would not want to comment on the matter,” Mengezi said.
MPs get just over K1 million a month and the 70 percent salary increase would have pushed their monthly take home pay to close to K2 million.
In addition, the legislators get K50,000 per day as sitting allowance whenever Parliament is meeting or the MPs are meeting in parliamentary committee meetings. They also get a K24 million loan once elected to Parliament.
The rejection comes at a time when the government is facing calls to increase salaries for University of Malawi support staff, Lilongwe City staff who are demanding the 25 percent pay hike which government approved last year and Admarc staff who government promised a 15 percent pay hike last year, among others.
Some MPs that we spoke to said they are yet to be advised on the 10 percent salary increase.
Lilian Patel, Chairperson of Cluster Nine, a joint parliamentary committee of nine committees, said a few weeks ago that the salary increases were awaiting President Peter Mutharika’s approval.
She said apart from the MPs, members of staff at Parliament were also to benefit from the massive salary increment but Gondwe said both the staff and legislators would get a bracket 10 percent salary increase.
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