Proposals have been made in the Majlis’s Finance Committee to reduce the salary of MPs as well as to remove allowances received for committee work.
The proposal comes the day after the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) announced its intention to investigate the decision to pay the committee an allowance of Rf20,000 (US$1,298) for the month of March – a month in which no committees convened, other than the Finance Committee itself.
Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed is reported by local media to have been both among the committee members who supported the decision to pay March’s allowance, as well as the progenitor of today’s proposal to reduce salaries and allowances.
Parliamentary activity was curtailed for the month of March after anti-government protesters and MPs blocked the official opening of the Majlis on March 1. The Majlis was officially opened amidst further protests on March 19 before reconvening on April 2.
Kulhudufushi MP Abdul Ghafoor Moosa voted against this decision.
“The administration sent a letter to the committee to make a decision on the payments. The public are not happy about this,” said Moosa.
“Some members of the committee argued that they were prepared to come into the meetings,” he continued.
Moosa said the ultimate decision on MPs pay and allowances would have to be made on the full floor of the house.
The ACC President Hassan Luthfee said that he had received a complaint about the committee allowances decision and was now investigating the matter, adding: “MPs should be more careful. They know about the financial problems in the country. They should be role models.”
Last month, Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad announced his intention to convene a pay review board in order to “harmonise” the pay of government employees in an attempt to reduce the state’s budget deficit.
He also announced his intention to reduce non-wage spending by 15 percent. Haveeru has today announced that the Majlis is cutting it’s budget by Rf25million (US$1.6million) , 11.2 percent of its total spending.
The Finance Committee predicted in May that the year’s deficit was likely to reach Rf9.1 billion (US$590 million), amounting to 27 percent of the country’s GDP.
Today’s proposals suggested reducing the pay of MPs to that of the highest paid civil servants.
The basic rate of pay for MPs is Rf42,500 (US$2,759) per month whilst the highest ranking civil servant receives Rf20500, according to local media reports. This is around the same amount MPs involved in committee work can expect to receive each month on top of their basic salary.
Transparency Maldives’ Aiman Rasheed explained that his organisation had been looking into the issue of MPs expenses since 2010.
Rasheed said that MPs already received a Rf20,000 (US$1,298) per month allowance in phone, travel, and living expenses, even for those MPs who live in the capital Male’.
“However, all MPs are paid the additional 20,000 regardless of actual expenses,” added Rasheed, “We strongly recommend that allowances to MPs must be released based on actual expenditure.”
“The 20k committee allowance is in addition to the basic salary and the living/phone/travel allowance. The justification by the Majlis for 20k is to incentivise MPs to attend committee meetings and to help their constituents,” said Rasheed.
“Some MPs made public statements that they would distribute the money among their constituents and that the money will go towards constituents’ medical bills etc. We at TM think that is plain corruption, abuse of authority and amounts to using state funds for campaigning.”
Regarding the decision to award the allowances for March, Rasheed noted that the Majlis’s regulations stipulate that MPs must attend 75 percent of their committee’s meeting to be eligible for the allowance.
Luthfee echoed these concerns, arguing that changes ought to be made to the way all allowances are distributed.
“In other countries such as the United Kingdom, the MPs travel and then submit expenses after spending,” said Luthfee.
Following a 2011 decision to reject a resolution to cut the controversial committee allowance bill, MP Ahmed Easa told Minivan News that, despite not supporting the allowance, he empathised with the needs many MPs had for additional finance.
”It’s true what they say – MPs have so much to do with their salary each month. People can’t even imagine how many calls a MP receives each day asking for help,” Easa explained.
“Anyone in trouble from any area will run to their MP first. MPs have to lend money to people in need of medication, even for reasons such as people coming to get money to pay the school fees of their children,” he continued.
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We now see perfect example of seperation of powers! Executive can influence Parlimentarians while also legitmising all decisions through his partner Judiciary.Womder if MPs can give their back in this fight to save a dying regime
It's a shame for Maldives - with so many rich resorts owners who do not pay any income tax - that people have to beg with their MP's for money to pay their health care or education.
High time income tax is introduced on any net income above 1 million MRF
Let's be clear on one thing.
MPs are not elected to pay their constituent's school fees or phone bills.
They're there to make policies and laws that boost the economy, keep the streets safe, and ensure fair distribution of resources.
If Ahmed Easa really thinks MPs should be given bags of cash to pay their constituents, on top of their already exorbitant salaries, then perhaps we should just get rid of the Majlis altogether and divert all that money towards a social welfare fund which pays school fees and such for the poorer sections?
After all, a fair argument can be made that the Majlis is the most useless, dysfunctional waste of public money in the country.
For God sake please don't reduce their salaries. Instead please increase them. You are paving way for more corruption. This bunch of idiots can derail the economy in 5 minutes.
I think this all boils down to the argument on curbing the drug trade.
Introducing deterrent measures such as harsh legislation, stricter penalties and better policing is not enough. The demand must also be curtailed through interventions aimed at raising awareness levels and changing social conditions and attitudes.
What MPs have noted carries some weight. Speaking from a strictly legal viewpoint it would not be right to endorse the idea of MPs continuing their spending on constituents.
However it is true that prevalent attitudes among the people remain where they expect their MPs to provide for them financially. It would take quite some time to change these attitudes. The general living costs and income of the Maldivian people would also have to go change for the better in order for us to advocate for higher ethical and moral standards.
Transparency Maldives is under an obligation to echo standards set by international norms in every regard. However an efficient government, thriving economy, productive people, better education, cheaper housing and are key to solving systemic problems such as the issue of constituents demanding handouts from their MPs.
The average activist would say I am condoning such behavior. But a realistic solution to these problems does not lie in confrontational activism alone. Time is of the essence and sustained efforts will reap rewards in the future.
If I knew that my MP was giving away money, I would have approached him long ago. It's not their obligation, it's as said... corruption.
It's is also pretty late for TM to make their voice heard. Besides, TM needs to be investigated for rampant corruption within their hiring process.
The Majlis has misspent millions of rufiya that belongs to the public, and they will have to be made answerable.