The parliamentary group of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) has called on the government to cut the number of ministers, as a cost-saving measure. Speaking in a debate on the cost of living in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, MDM deputy Ismael Mussa suggested reducing the ministers from the current 28 to just 13.
This could be achieved, for example, by merging the Ministries of Culture and of Education, the Ministries of Defence and of Veterans' Affairs, the Ministries of Mineral Resources and of Energy, and the Ministries of Health and of Women's Affairs and Social Welfare, among other mergers.
The MDM wanted all Deputy MinisterS to be downgraded to Secretaries of State (who are paid less), and to abolish the highest post in the civil service, that of Permanent Secretary (currently Permanent Secretaries exist in ministries, in provinces and in districts).
Further savings could be made, Mussa argued, by scrapping the positions of Governor of Maputo City, and of the state representatives in the other 42 municipalities. (The government has resisted similar calls in the past, on the grounds that not all state functions have been handed over to the mayors and municipal councils, and there must be somebody in charge of those areas which are not municipal responsibilities).
Mussa also wanted to reduce the ostentatious use of escorts by senior state figures, pointing out that many fewer vehicles were used in escorts during the days of the country's first president, Samora Machel.
These were hardly inflammatory proposals, yet one deputy from the majority Frelimo Party, Isidora Faztudo, herself a former deputy minister of agriculture, immediately branded them as "populist, demagogic and tendentious"
She declared that the government had already taken measures to deal with the cost of living which had been assessed as sustainable, and she was sure that "other measures will be taken at the opportune moment when the process so requires".
Mussa retorted that there was nothing demagogic in the MDM's proposals. Far from trying to embarrass the government, the MDM wished to support its austerity drive. "We are proposing measures that will help the government!", he declared.
But the MDM admits it has not calculated how much money its proposals would save. Mussa told AIM that the MDM did not wish to sack any Ministry staff - so despite the mergers, the number of people employed by the government would remain much the same. Savings would therefore be minimal.
For the largest opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, Saimone Macuiana protested that the government freeze on wage increases for senior state figures could not be monitored when nobody knew how much they are currently earning.
"What's the point of a wage freeze, when we don't know how much the ministers earn?", he asked.
On this point, Macuiana was right - the salaries of senior state figures (including the President, the Prime Minister, the ministers, deputy ministers and provincial governors) are not published in the official gazette, the "Boletim da Republica", and are not specifically mentioned in the state budget. Macuiana thus demanded that the government bring its own wages table to the Assembly.
Of course, not a single deputy suggested that perhaps savings might be made by cutting their own wages. 54 per cent of the total Assembly budget approved in May consists of wages and allowances of the deputies.
The average basic monthly wage of a deputy is 45,314 meticais (1,265 US dollars) - which is 13 times the largest of the current statutory minimum wages. But deputies also receive an attendance allowance, an entertainment allowance, allowances for rent, water and electricity bills, and an allowance for working in their constituencies.
When these are all included, the average deputy receives payment of over 90,000 meticais per month. This is very generous indeed, given that the Mozambican parliament is a part time body with just two ordinary sittings a year (March to May, and October to December). When parliament is sitting plenary sessions are only held two days a week, from 08.30 to 13.00.
Cutting the deputies' payments by 50 per cent would provide an extra 135 million meticais for the state budget per year. It is, of course, most improbable that any such proposal will be made.
Source: allafrica - 2010.10.21
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