Former MPs owe govt rentals
Gothataone Moeng | Wednesday May 21, 2014 11:42
It emerged yesterday that government has struggled to recover the money, as there is no legal or written record when the former MPs were allowed to stay in the Parliamentary Flats beyond their terms.
The clerk of the National Assembly, Barbara Dithapo told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday that MPs are expected to vacate their houses when Parliament is dissolved ahead of national elections.
Parliament is traditionally dissolved in August before elections in October. However, in 2009, Parliament decided that MPs should stay in their houses for a period of time after the dissolution of Parliament, she said.
“There was a request from the then MPs for them to be allowed to stay in their flats beyond the dissolution. The intervention was just treated as an administrative matter. They asked for a reasonable time, and were allowed. However when that time elapsed, some of the MPs did not move out of the flats,” she said.
Dithapo said the former MPs were therefore required to pay rent because they had stayed beyond the agreed time. Of the three, only Nagafela has been served with a demand to pay up.
A representative from the Attorney General explained that the other two ex-MPs said they considered themselves liable to pay the utilities for the time they stayed at the flats, but not for the rent. The representative said it would be difficult to pursue the case as there is no written record of the agreement of the time frame the MPs were supposed to stay in the flats.
The issue raises questions on what would happen if the current MPs overstay in the flats.
Yesterday, Dithapo said a resolution can be taken by the General Assembly (an informal meeting of all MPs) on the matter. She said that when Parliament is dissolved this year, her office expects to take advantage of the vacancy to renovate the flats before the new MPs come in.