Parliament has started deducting money from backdated allowances of MPs whose attendance has been erratic.
The amount is being garnished from the $15 000 payouts that MPs started receiving in January when government decided to settle amounts that had been outstanding since 2008.
MPs yesterday confirmed that they have begun collecting statements detailing amounts they owed, or were owed by Parliament, which have since been calculated from the actual number of sittings they have attended.
The move follows an announcement in April by Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga that government was going to introduce a system where MPs would receive allowances commensurate with the number of days they would have attended parliamentary sessions.
Matinenga said the move would ensure truant MPs would not claim sitting allowances and they got what was actually due to them.
“I can confirm that I received a statement from the Parliament accounts department detailing how much I was actually supposed to get,” said Masvingo Central MP Jeffreyson Chitando. “My statement said I actually owe Parliament $250,” chipped in St Mary’s legislator Marvellous Khumalo.
Chitungwiza Senator James Makore also confirmed that senators have since received statements of amounts they owed or were owed by Parliament depending on their attendance.
However, several MPs who spoke to NewsDay about the issue said they were not happy that members of the Executive also received the $15 000 payouts.
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“We are not happy that the ministers also received $15 000 payouts although their salaries are not paid from Parliament coffers.
“We want to know if they are going to return that money,” said the MPs who preferred anonymity.
But the chairperson of the Welfare Committee for Parliamentarians, Goromonzi North MP Paddy Zhanda, said he was not aware of the development as he had not yet collected his statement.
“I will comment after I get the information and then we (MPs) will have a joint caucus meeting to discuss the issue because this arrangement would be different from the one we had with the Ministry of Finance,” said Zhanda.
Last month, NewsDay exposed several legislators who had missed the majority of parliamentary sittings during the currents session.
