A comparison of Maldivian MPs salaries and allowances with those of MPs in other countries reveals that should the recently-passed MP Privilieges Bill be ratified, Maldivian MPs will earn thousands more than their counterparts in many developed countries.
The comparative list, currently being circulated by protesters on the ‘Majlis Membarunge Musaara Bodu kurumaa Dhekolhah’ Facebook group lobbying against the recently-passed MP Privileges Bill, notes that Majlis MPs have voted themselves a total monthly salary increase from US$4863 to US$7083 (including base salary and allowances of $US1667), despite the country having a crippling budget deficit of over US$370 million.
According to the comparison, also available as an interactive graph, an Indian MP earns US$5966 per month, a French MP US$6651 and an Italian MP US$6936.
In fact if the bill were ratified in its current state, a Maldivian MP would earn just US$215 a month less than MPs in Sweden, one of the world’s most highly developed economies and ranked ninth in the United Nations’ Human Development Index. The Maldives ranked 86th.
Ahmed Adheeb, a local financial consultant in the private sector, observed that MPs were seeking to raise their salaries and allowances at a time when the country was in a “very critical economic situation”, and under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drastically cut the wage bill for civil servants and independent institutions.
“I hope the President does not ratify it, for the sake of the country,” he said, suggesting that neither parliament or the independent institutions had performed to a standard befitting a substantial pay increase in a climate of economic catastrophe.
“Parliament and independent institutions are trying to give themselves increased pay and benefits without justifying what the country is getting in return – for instance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has not concluded a case since 2008,” he observed.
“We haven’t had an Auditor General appointed for over a year. Banks are investing in T-bills and bonds because they feel they are more secure, and so they are giving loans to the private sector. The Maldive Monetary Authority (MMA)’s foreign exchange reserve is falling. Everyone, including the IMF, has agreed we are in bad shape.”
While the deficit had improved to 16 percent of GDP, this was in part due to several “once-off” income events such as the US$78 million upfront payment from Indian infrastructure giant GMR.
“I think people need to realise how bad the situation is – very few people are talking about the economy,” Adheeb said.
DRP MP Rozaina Adam, who voted in favour of the MP Privileges Bill, said the party had a whip line “and most MPs wanted to pass it”.
“It’s unfortunate that parliament has to decide its own salary,” she noted. “Ministers don’t decide their own salaries, we do it. On the other hand, it is written in the constitution that we determine our own.”
Rozaina explained that the figure of Rf 62,500 (US$4883) commonly given as the MPs salary “is not our full salary – it includes our living allowances, phone bills, secretariat, travel.”
It was also important to note, she said, that in the Maldives an MP’s salary “is also seen as a welfare fund by many people. If anything goes wrong, constituents go to their MPs. It has been like this for a long time now, and I feel we need to move out of it – these are things that are supposed to be done by the government, but it has been a tradition for a long time to ask MPs. When someone comes and says their nine year-old needs a kidney transplant, it is hard to say no. In the long term, this means that only rich people can be MPs.”
Nonetheless, Rozaina said, protests outside parliament over the MP’s salary increases “don’t really reflect what the public is thinking. Most of [the protesters] were MDP supporters. I think the government is very unpopular at the moment, and because of that the President is trying to degrade the work of parliament. and the government is doing its best to make people think parliament is not doing enough. After the bill was passed I travelled to Haa Alif and Haa Dhaal Atolls and nobody was talking about it there, and there were no protests.”
Adheeb suggested that because of the penchant in parliament and independent institutions for members to approve themselves salary increases, “I propose an independent commission to structure the pay scale, linked to the economy and bench-marked against the private sector – because it is the private sector that generates the income for the government.”
The country’s fledgling democracy, he said, was proving too expensive for the economy to sustain.
“The Constitution cannot be financed like this. When democracy first arrived in the US, people gave their own time to work in the Senate,” he noted.
Further taxing the private sector to fund a bloated state wage bill, he said, such as with the recently-passed Business Profit Tax, could not be done without improving confidence in the private sector.
“We have not had a direct tax on businesses before, instead we have had duties and a high import tax, relative to other countries, and businesses have passed the tax on to the public. Businesses prefer direct taxes, because it is a tax after profit rather than a tax on imports during operations. But my concern is not so much increased taxes, but whether the money that is being collected is being invested in good purposes.”
None of the three arms of state, or any of the independent institutions, were really concerned with the economy, Adheeb said, “just their own policies and agendas.”
“Parliament has passed a budget with a huge deficit, but if you see any of their statements, they say they are worried about the economy. Yet now they are increasing their benefits.”
MP’s salaries compared:
Maldives
MP’s monthly salary (US $):7,083
(Base Salary: 5,416 & Allowance: 1,667)
GDP (US $) (2009 est): 1.683 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est): -$370 million
Sri Lanka
MP’s monthly salary (US $):877
Plus Rs 500 for every parliamentary session
GDP (US $) (2009 est): 96.47 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$291 million
India
MP’s monthly salary (US $):5,966
GDP (US $) (2009 est):3.68 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$26.63 billion
Singapore
MP’s monthly salary (US $):9,264
GDP (US $) (2009 est):251.2 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):32.63 billion
UK
MP’s monthly salary (US $):8,552
GDP (US $) (2009 est):2.123 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$23.65 billion
US
MP’s monthly salary (US $):14,500
GDP (US $) (2009 est):14.12 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$378.4 billion
Australia
MP’s monthly salary (US $):9,687
GDP (US $) (2009 est):321.6 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):8.73 billion
France
MP’s monthly salary (US $):6,651
GDP (US $) (2009 est):2.094 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$51.86 billion
Italy
MP’s monthly salary (US $):6,936
GDP (US $) (2009 est):1.737 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$66.2 billion
Sweden
MP’s monthly salary (US $):7,298
GDP (US $) (2009 est):335.1 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):30.23 billion
Interactive comparison: http://www.shakeupmedia.com/mpsalary/
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