Kigoma North legislator Zitto Kabwe’s revelation of the
salaries of the president, prime minister, (and ministers?) is extremely useful
in some aspects. When these top leaders donate millions of shillings at
fundraising events we at least can say it is income derived from legitimate
sources.
Another important aspect is the right of citizens to know
how their taxes are spent. It is apparently illegal for anyone to disclose the
salary of a government employee. This is an archaic piece of law and it should
be scrapped immediately. Elected officials get their mandate from the citizens
and it is the right of citizens to know how much their government is spending
including how much its leaders are earning because the amounts apportioned to
specific expenditure items is an important criteria for assessing government
performance.
If Zitto Kabwe (MP) is not prosecuted for breaking the law
by revealing these salaries than we can safely make one or two conclusions:
that – as I have already mentioned – this provision in law is politically untenable
and, two, there is something hugely wrong with paying such outrageously inflated salaries.
Both two remain valid, in my opinion, even if he is eventually prosecuted.
When President Kikwete so eloquently argued against
accepting the demands by striking doctors for a pay rise, he publicly declared
how much the doctors were earning. I supported his arguments because I felt
then that the doctors were demanding too much while other government employees
earned relatively less. Had I know then that the president’s salary was more than
30 million shillings ($US 18,750) per month would it have changed my view on the doctors’
demands? No it would not, but I would have questioned the sincerity of a
president who was arguing that the 7 million shillings ($US 4,375) salary per month demanded
by the medics was excessive. I would have placed both the president and the
medics – and now the prime minister, who Zitto Kabwe says earns 26 millions
shillings ($US 16,250) a month and was actively engaged in negotiations with the striking
doctors – in the same basket: elected officials who earn too much and who ought
to be ashamed they earn so much in such a poor country.
And that – the shame – is the issue here. It is none of any
Tanzanian’s business to know how much Tanzania’s millionaires are paying
themselves every month, but any politician should be aware that it is rather difficult
to justify these colossal salaries. The shame is not a personal matter that is
leveled at President Jakaya Kikwete, or Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda and other
excessively paid public servants (including Honourable Zitto Kabwe’s colleagues
in parliament who he says earn Shs.11.2 million shillings - $US 7,000 - a month) but at the institutions they lead and the pay and perks that are
associated with these public offices. When you earn that much money how can you
relate to a poor mother whose son has been bitten by a rabid dog and has not
been able to afford Shs.7,000/- ($US 4.4) to pay for an anti-rabies injection?
The president of the United States is paid an annual salary
of $US 400,000. Ours is paid the equivalent of $US 237,500. According to the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) the GDP of the United States in 2012, the largest economy in
the world, was $US 16,244,575 million; Tanzania’s was $US 28,247 million.
Tanzania’s economy was ranked 92nd in size. If we accept that an American
president’s salary is modest and use the salary as a guide relative to the size
of its economy, our president should earn no more than $US 700 – in a year!
I hear a huge roar of laughter at such a suggestion, but I
believe if that was, indeed, the salary of the president of Tanzania, it might
produce a much smaller but rather committed number of individuals who present
themselves as candidates for the presidency. We are told that all personal
expenses for the president are paid by the government so no president will
starve in office even with a $US 700 annual salary.
Have those modest salaries replicated in a parliamentarian’s
pay scales and for all elected representatives and you’ll have a relatively
smaller government wage bill and a cadre of leaders who seek public office not
for the salary and perks but for what elected posts are intended – to serve the public.
You may also like:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/04/minister-and-his-deputy-must-go.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/05/public-offices-in-tanzania.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/08/with-huge-natural-gas-discoveries-on.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-any-name-beep-or-buzz-is-absolute.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/10/could-our-cabinet-ministers-please-shut.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-have-empathy-for-residents-of-mtwara.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/04/letter-from-butiama-dual-citizenship-is_9295.html
You may also like:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/04/minister-and-his-deputy-must-go.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/05/public-offices-in-tanzania.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/08/with-huge-natural-gas-discoveries-on.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-any-name-beep-or-buzz-is-absolute.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/10/could-our-cabinet-ministers-please-shut.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-have-empathy-for-residents-of-mtwara.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2013/04/letter-from-butiama-dual-citizenship-is_9295.html
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