The Democratic Progressive Party, knowing fully well of their slim chances at the 2025 election, has masterminded a plan to have their Members of Parliament continue receiving money after they cease being elected representatives in future.
Through their Member of Parliament from Chitipa South Welani Chilenga, the party intends to move a motion through a private Members Bill in Parliament for the House to discuss and agree that Parliamentarians should be allocated to benefit half of their current after they are voted out of office.
According to the Daily Times, Chilenga’s proposal is contained in a notice of a Private Member’s Motion of Parliament dated 1st August, 2023.
In part the notice reads:” Considering the important service that a Member of Parliament offers to this nation during his/her tenure of office and noting that all Presiding Officers are entitled to some kind of a pension after leaving office, concerned with the lack of any pension arrangement for an ex MP, this House resolves that ex-MPs should be receiving,on a monthly basis, half of salary at which they exited for the rest of their lives”.
The proposition has not gone down well with the rights groups. Expressing outrage, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Chairperson Gift Trapence described the motion ‘inconsiderate’ as it comes at a time the country reeling from several economic challenges.
He said:” Malawians are suffering. Instead of Parliamentarians prioritising issues that will help government bail Malawians out of their economic meltdown they are thinking about money”.
Commenting on the matter, University of Malawi political analyst Ernest Thindwa said the move shows that Parliamentarians have no regard for the country’s struggling economy.
It is not surprising that this outrageous greedy proposal is coming from a DPP legislature. It looks more certain that a majority of DPP parliamentarians will not make it in 2025 and this is their fallback plan knowing that they will be jobless in three years time.