Some people are incensed and seek to portray Members of Parliament (MPs) as untrustworthy, avaricious and self-serving. On the other hand, other Batswana are shocked at how much their political leaders are getting as monthly remuneration. In fact some are surprised that their political leaders are among the lowest paid in the region and that they don’t have car and housing allowances.
Before Parliament adjourned in April, four Bills were fast tracked as they were tabled and adopted by Parliament on Thursday April 9, 2015. The Minister of Justice Defence and Security tabled the Judicial Services (Amendment) Bill No. 5 of 2015 to amend the Judicial Services Act to add the 6% salary or inflationary adjustment to the concerned judicial officers. The Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration tabled three Bills namely, Specified Offices (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, No 6 of 2015 to amend the Specified Offices (Salaries and Allowances) Act; Ntlo Ya Dikgosi (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, No 7 of 2015 to amend the Ntlo Ya Dikgosi (Salaries and Allowances) Act; and the National Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, No. 8 of 2015 to amend the National Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Act. The presentation of the four Bills was pursuant to Parliament Standing Orders permitting urgency in dealing with Bills. All the Bills aforementioned except the one on National Assembly salaries had to do with 6% increment awarded by the government after negotiations with trade unions. The Bills were discussed by MPs at the General Assembly where debates ensued and common ground was found. Notwithstanding some arguments, albeit constructive and cordial, at the General Assembly, the decision to fast track the Bills was by and large a decision of the collective. The Bill, now an Act, on MPs salaries, was debated extensively with near consensus that MPs are poorly paid and that their conditions of service are generally poor and have to be reviewed. What was done was neither a salary increment nor a review of conditions of service of MPs. The salaries were properly fit into government salary scales to correct the anomaly that existed at the time and the net effect was a slight increase on what MPs are paid.
