Earning their keep

How much should a parliamentarian be paid? The parliamentarians would say “much more” and the public would say “nothing.” But the issue deserves attention because every few years parliamentarians get perks and payments with little transparency and it is essential to get a sense of the numbers to demand better performance and professionalism from parliamentarians.    

The issue returned to the surface of public debate because of a statement made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament where he declared his support for increasing payments to parliamentarians and quipped that he could manage on the current salary that his wife was getting paid better. 

This pithy aside also indicates one critical dimension of this matter; basically should payments be given based on qualifications and experience? And if so what are the strata currently being followed? 

It is telling that when JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake raised a question in the House demanding a breakdown of salary and other payments of parliamentarians and ministers no clear answer was given. The varied and convoluted system of salaries, allowances, house rent, insurance, the provision of support staff, security, phone and other payments are largely unknown. This is worse among parliamentarians who are ministers or hold other official positions within the State. 

Still others are given ceremonial positions or their closeness to centres of power give them access to additional income. Not only are these earnings tax-free, parliamentarians, even after one stint, are given a lifelong pension.  

Usually the only time parliamentarians are slammed is when the allocations of duty free vehicle permits do the rounds. Yet economists have repeatedly pointed out the Government has to get on track its own spending, not just in what gets haemorrhaged from corrupt deals and loss-making State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), but on what is spent on the Diyawanna members. 

In fact popular Economist and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Wijewardena told a forum in October that it would be a saving for the Government to tally up all the costs and pay parliamentarians a hefty Rs. 5 million a month rather than follow this complicated system that results in opaque payment systems that are almost impossible to keep track of and breed corruption. 

Further salary hikes for parliamentarians cannot be justified unless the public clearly knows what is already being paid. Since the Sri Lankan Government is fond of modelling itself on Singapore it can follow the Lion State in this respect very easily. Singapore is well-known for paying some of the highest salaries in the world to its civil servants but it also has a one-strike policy regarding corruption, which brings us to the second point. Not only should parliamentarians be well qualified to be given a transparently accounted salary, they should then be held to the highest of professional standards. 

Singapore has stringent KPI indicators for its top public officials, which are rigorously implemented and enforced. Parliamentarians can have higher salaries provided they are independently evaluated for performance. 

Under the current system even members that are not elected and barely deign to attend Parliament can avail themselves of perks and vehicles worth millions of the public’s money. Such an unfair and archaic system must end and parliamentarians, like all other hard working citizens, must earn their keep.