Africa-Press – Eswatini. Following the revision of the terms and conditions of service for Members of Parliament (MPs), Cabinet ministers, the attorney general and bucopho, among others, a career in politics is slowly but surely becoming a lucrative proposition in this country. All thanks to Finance Circular No. 2 of 2023. It has set the scene for a scramble for Parliament like no other in future elections.
The lifetime wages of the prime minister (PM) and deputy prime minister are the jackpot. This is in addition to a E3.5 million home improvement budget and a E3 million security budget. Even a bucopho job is now worth the effort. With an annual pay of E91 988, they will now receive a E300 000 car allowance, as well as a E350 sitting allowance, E500 communication allowance, medical aid, pension and a constituency allowance equal to 12.5 per cent of an MP’s basic salary. Mouth-watering stuff, but it cannot escape the question; can the taxpayer afford it all?
In an attempt to answer this question, the preamble of the circular states that the terms and conditions for the 12th Parliament were developed at a time when the country was confronted with a combination of internal, regional and global difficulties. “However, due care has been taken to ensure that the remuneration framework, as developed, recognises that it is important to appoint competent nationals into political office so that the country can benefit from their expertise in pursuit of its development and growth agenda. The framework also recognises that a career in politics is a calling and a privilege; therefore, while it is important to pay competitive salaries in recognition of their skills and competencies, it is equally important to balance this against what the country can afford,” reads the circular.
It goes on to say that the benefits are not uniform, but were developed with the role, status, duties, functions and responsibilities in mind, and that a benchmarking exercise was conducted to understand what is available in the region, including the civil service, parastatals and private sector companies. So the circular is effectively saying ‘yes’, the country can afford it, which is quite interesting given government’s plethora of challenges, the major one being a shortage of funds to meet the populace’s expectations in health, education and social welfare.
Increased
What the circular also means is that these salaries are being increased in the belief that they will be commensurate with the qualities of the people who will get them. In short, these benefits and wages would only be justified if and when the correct people are placed in these roles. This offers the electorate even more reason to seek value for money when identifying and voting for candidates. It also emphasises the importance of attaching performance evaluations to these incentives. Former PM Barnabas Dlamini attempted to implement performance targets for Cabinet ministers. The Public Policy Coordinating Unit (PPCU) was tasked with regularly monitoring the performance of each ministry and providing quarterly reports to the PM’s office and Parliament.
However, as good as this approach was, it never achieved its original goal since ministers who failed to reach targets faced no consequences. As a result, ministry quarterly performance reports have devolved into simple progress reports. Parliament has been ineffective in holding ministers accountable for their performance.
This is undoubtedly related to the calibre of the legislators. Do they have the capacity and competence to serve as supervisors? It all comes down to the electorate and the need to carefully consider the credentials of the candidates they elect. The MPs have a critical role to play in the development of this country, and we cannot afford to ignore the cost-benefit of the vote. I have no objection to the paying of appropriate salaries to deserving individuals. The country truly deserves highly competent politicians who can fulfil our aspirations of being a First World nation. The only way to attract capable individuals is by providing them with incentives that make it worthwhile.
Attaining
Regrettably, it appears that we are still a long way from attaining that balance unless we alter our current mindset towards voting. Unfortunately, the qualities defined by the circular are disregarded. This irresponsibility will play itself out again as the elected MPs prepare to nominate and vote for the 10 representatives to the Senate and the four regional women MPs. There is currently a significant amount of lobbying taking place, with substantial fees being paid for each vote. In the end, those who make the highest offers will fill the seats, rather than the most qualified and deserving candidates.
It is not surprising that our beautiful kingdom’s socio-economic development yields little gain despite the significant amount of money being spent on those expected to deliver. Then again, that is the beauty of our unique democracy: People freely and fairly make their own choices. However, we need to arrive at a point where we get to fully comprehend the cost behind these choices so that we begin to cast the right vote.
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