Is the MMD Cabinet Salary Increment Justified?

The Citizens Democratic Party finds the push for a salary increment BY and FOR the MMD cabinet to be simply unjustified, unsubstantiated and immoral. The CDP has the following reasons, to support the common notion amongst our citizenry that this move is ill-conceived, and it should not take effect in its current state as reported by our "watch-dog" media, namely The Post.

FALLACY #1 The main reason given to justify this move is not just insufficient and immoral but does not hold any water at all. For some very odd reason, the MMD government seems to believe that the work of professionals (in an example cited by themselves; the Bank of Zambia Governor), is equitable to that of a political leader. The Citizens Democratic Party finds it inconceivable that leaders elected to serve the people's interests, should decide to serve their interests first. As CDP, we believe that a distinctive line exist between political leaders and civil servants. The distinctive line is self defined by the manner in which the two subjects (civil servants and political servants) are "hired". The civil servant, we would like to think, is hired on deserving merit of (education or otherwise), being a professional in his or her field. On the other hand, the political servant comes into office by the good will of the people, whose main expectation will be that the political servant hired/elected will serve the interests of the citizens who hired them first. With this in mind, it therefore, makes sense that as far as salary and allowance increments are concerned, priority should lie with civil servants first and not with political leaders.

SOLUTION TO FALLACY #1 “Politics is not a career but a service” The MMD government should simply recognize the fact that a well defined disparity exist, which can be measured in monitory terms, between a person professionally trained to perform a function as our civil servants perform, compared to a politician, whose one qualification for office is simply being elected . Therefore, it is not true to peddle the reason that there is a disparity in compensation between the two. Rather there is a difference in compensation which should actually exist. Political leaders need to recognize that the people who elected them should come first. Therefore, when talk of salary increments come into play, civil servants should be first in line and not political leaders. The Citizens Democratic Party’s solution is simply in line with our ideology of "Putting People First".

FALLACY # 2 It is an established fact that the existing privileges of a Member of Parliament and/or a Cabinet Minister, are not anywhere close to the current conditions of the majority of our Zambian citizens. Zambians overtaxed as they are and wallowing in poverty, already have a burden of supporting the luxurious lifestyles of our political leaders. This fact is undisputed. Since 1991, the MMD government has thrived in the current dysfunctional system, which remains to be very deceptive, in the way illicit financial gain is transacted disguised in words such as "sitting allowance", "traveling allowance", “responsibility allowance”, and an assortment of other "allowances". This is not an accusation by The Citizens Democratic Party but simply a well known fact.

SOLUTION TO FALLACY #2 – “unchecked allowances are more than enough” The whole compensation system regarding our political leaders needs to be restructured in a way that will completely DEFINE and ITEMIZE the way emoluments through salaries and allowances are being awarded. If we had to do that now, we will no doubt find that the salary and allowance increment the CABINET OFFIACIALS are awarding themselves is simply UNJUSTIFIED and UNDESERVED.