Guest Post by Awab Alvi (Teeth Maestro)
I have recently come across a few interesting facts regarding the pay scale and fringe benefits enjoyed by each member of our National Assembly (here).
It is more than you might expect. Rs. 32,000,000 per MNA per year; or Rs.8,54,40,000,000 5,47,20,000,000 for all 534 342 MNAs for the 5 year tenure. Democracy, even cosmetic democracy, does not come cheap!
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Pakistani MNA’s Salary and Government Perks
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Monthly Salary
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Rs. 120,000 to 200,000
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Expense for Constitution per month
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Rs.100,000
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Office expenditure per month
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Rs.140,000
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Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km)
(For a visit to ISLAMABAD & return: 6000 km) |
Rs.48,000
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Daily BETA during Assembly meets
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Rs.500
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Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train
(All over PAKISTAN) |
Free
Unlimited |
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Charge for Business Class in flights
(With wife or P.A.) |
Free for 40
trips / year |
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Rent for Govt hostel any where
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Free
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Electricity costs at home
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Free up to 50,000 units
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Local phone call charge
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Free up to 1,70,000 calls.
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TOTAL expense for a MNA per year
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Rs.32,000,000
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TOTAL expense for 5 years
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Rs.1,60,000,000
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For
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Rs. 5,47,20,000,000 |
Keep in mind that these numbers are only the official estimates. You can imagine for yourself the unofficial sums easily acquired by a man in such a position.
Why are we wasting so much of money on a ghost assembly whose job is to do … NOTHING. They have no powers but quite simply play the game as it create a silver lining in their pockets both in terms of official perks and all the unofficial perks they
must be enjoying.
The current batch of 534 MNA’s have done nothing but bash their tables or quite often staging a walk-out in protest. I have occasionally had the displeasure to watch this circus on TV and it appears that these illiterate hooligans quite often simply don’t understand the issue at hand let alone comprehend its importance for its benefits or disadvantages on behalf which may impact the very constituents who elected him into office in the first place. (For earlier ATP posts on some interesting MNA behavior, see here and here).
Dr. Awab Alvi blogs as Teeth Maestro and is one of the people behind Help-Pakistan.com and Bloggers.pk.
Despite the inaccuracy in the numbers that were quoted in the information that Maestro got, I think he has raised an important question.
Notwithstanding the fact that when Musharraf leaves office many would call him yet another Zia-like episode in the long history of military dictatorship in Pakistan, I do sometimes wonder what historians would have to say about the present legislature and their role during this presidency. What have they achieved for democracy, which is something we all hope for, and how have they placed themselves to not let military take over again in future? Frankly, I don’t think much has changed on the political front, and sooner or later another Saladin wanna-be will emerge from within army ranks, purporting to solve all of Pakistan’s problems.
Mr. Maestro- my guess if I venture to take it… will be that you are (or you are quoting) an overzealous fauji supporter who wants to prove that if army loots Pakistan… its alright because elected people do that as well….
Ofcourse I might be wrong which is why I won’t take this guess… but if you think you are doing the nation a favour by putting up these figures (which we all strongly suspect are concocted)… I certainly hope you will continue to do the good work … and draw the following table as well…
No. of Army officers- Second lieutenant and above.
No. of Plots they will get in various DHAs for a nominal value (around Rs 4000 to a Kanal).
The market value of a DHA plot in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad.
The benfits plan, allowances, TADAs etc etc
The free mess and lodging costs for each officer…
+ misc expenses..
A sum of what this army- this army that has never won any wars and never conquered anything but its own capital- costs
Another comparison you can do is… a comparison between the total landholding of all the evil feudals of Pakistan and the number of Cost Center farms that Pakistan Army runs…
If you do this you will discover that the company I like to call Pakistan Army Private Limited you will discover is as a great a business venture as … I don’t know … Enron…
Pakistan WAS created by a LAWYER-PARLIAMENTARIAN … who held civilian authority to be supreme. Pakistan was created through a process of ballot and was essentially the result of a constitutional process… Pakistan CAN only survive if the constitutional process- however flawed- is allowed to function. Instead of giving these concocted figures, you should be strengthening the hands of the civilians… atleast they are not looting you and then rolling over and playing dead in wars.
And I’ll tell you where you got the 534 from… without impugning your intentions, can you honestly tell us if it is a pure conincidence that the total strength of the US Congress HR+Senate is 535? I find your innocence most charming.
Regardless of the accuracy of the figures, the money that these people acquire ILLEGALLY probably makes these numbers seem like a drop in the bucket.
I for one think that government officials should be highly paid specifically so that they will have less of an incentive to cheat and accept bribes.
A couple of years ago, I met a person who had a relatively high position in the police. He said that the government spent around 1.7 lakhs total on him to give him PERKS he did not need (including phone, housing, an army of servants). While phone, etc are essential, most people tend to abuse so much that the bills are actually astronomical.
His point was that it would behoove everyone if the government did not give him any perks and instead handed him 50% of that money in liquid CASH. That would bring his salary in line with what he called “resecatable” private sector pay….
This information in the form of an email has been in circulation for many months now. I doubt the credibility of figures. The 6000km return journey expense to Islamabad is impossible, as Islamabad to Karachi distance is 1800 km (3600 km return). Farthest from Islamabad is probably the Baluchistan areas of Turbat and Gawadar. With air travel possible, even they are not more than 2000km away.
Teeth Maestro: Not only the number of MNAs in the report is obviously wrong but also the cost figures are questionable. Recently, a government MNA(Mr. M.P. Bhandara) had raised this issue in the Assembly and quoted a total cost of RS 10 million per month per MNA (as opposed to your figure of 32 million). He had arrived at this figure by dividing the total budgeted operating cost of the National Assembly by the number of MNAs. Many members from both the government and the opposition took exception to this and questioned his figures. Some of them were shown on the TV saying that their actual salaries did not exceed RS 50,000 per month.
I really don’t know what the true salary and benefit figures for the MNAs are but I believe they should be competitive to those of their counterparts elsewhwere.
Also, I have a feeling that such reports (by the Observer) are possibly meant to discredit the parilamentary democracy itslef.