via Clerk of Parliament blocking debate on salarygate | SW Radio Africa by Tichaona Sibanda on Friday, February 28, 2014
Long serving clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma is reportedly frustrating attempts by parliamentarians from both sides of the House from debating the ‘salarygate’ scandal, amid allegations he may be earning an obscene salary himself.
MPs who spoke to SW Radio Africa on Friday are enraged that a motion debated on Thursday, on the high compensation for senior management at parastatals, was watered down by Zvoma.
During the debate it was also disclosed by the MDC-T MP for Mbizo in KweKwe, Settlement Chikwinya, that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner-general Gershem Pasi earns $310,000 per month.
Chikwinya said that several issues that were to be debated on the salarygate scandal were deleted by Zvoma, who has a final say on motions to be discussed in Parliament. One of the major issues removed from the order paper was a request that all parastatals present their salary schedules to Parliament by 30th March.
The legislators also wanted Zvoma to present a salary structure of Parliament’s administrators, by the end of May. But these requests were omitted from Thursday’s order paper, igniting suspicions that he was trying to hide something.
‘For all we know, Zvoma may be earning the same salary as the parastatal bosses. Whenever there is debate on the salarygate since it broke late last year, there seems to be suppression of debate or lack of will to provide evidence as requested by MP’s,’ another legislator said.
The MPs suspicions about Zvoma stem from the fact that whenever a portfolio committee from Parliament travels outside Zimbabwe, the clerk always accompanies that group, travelling in first class, while MPs use the economy seats.
When it comes to accommodation, Zvoma always uses executive suites and legislators standard rooms. This has not gone unnoticed and the MPs now want a probe into the finances of Parliament’s administration.
‘Zvoma is just an appointed executive member of the House of Assembly and we are elected members of the House and he gets special treatment compared to us. It means something is terribly wrong with the system and this needs to be investigated as a matter of urgency,’ an MDC-T MP added.
Meanwhile, MPs have demanded to know how Communication Technology Minister Webster Shamu acquired a top-of-the-range Toyota Land Cruiser VX8 vehicle from suspended Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation boss Happison Muchechetere.
The vehicle, meant for the ZBC and facilitated through a loan that provided funds for an outside broadcast van from China, ended up in the hands of Shamu.
During his tenure as Information Minister Shamu, a close colleague of Muchechetere from their liberation war days, was in charge of the ZBC.
It is believed several ministers benefitted, especially in procurement where they either received kickbacks or connived with CEOs to give them vehicles and buy them houses.
Charlton Hwende, a businessman and MDC-T politician, said it has never been ZANU PF’s intention to stop or prosecute corrupt officials because the party itself is enmeshed in a web of corruption.
‘With the amount of corruption that has so far been exposed, you wonder why nobody has been questioned let alone arrested for graft. It tells you they are not interested to probe further because it will expose the whole system, which is controlled by ZANU PF,’ Hwende said.
COMMENTS
MPs being pushed around by their employee. There is no government , its mugabe and his mafia. They can never sort this mess they created. There is utter lawlessness. Nearly every civil servant has to be fired. Its very easy for a new team after Zanu ,fire the lot .
STRANGE, THAT IS HOW THE ZANUPF MAFIA OPERATES! ROTTEN FROM HEAD TO TOE! THEY ALL ARE! IT IS THEIR CULTURE!
Transparency and exposure of graft and corruption will benefit change only when honorable men and women are prepared to take over, and Zimbabwe is willing to pay whatever price is necessary for that transition.
kkk pasi earning 310 000 a month? this bags a lot of pertinent questions:
1) is paying tax on that?
2) for how long has he been earning obscene salaries? if very long then all the previous and current finance monsters are complicit in this as they did not practice prudent corporate governance. so is the auditor general.
3) our system rewards uneducated pple? pasi has a diploma and a dubious 6 month mba.
4) why is Mugabe keeping pasi 4 so long? there may be sharing of the loot here, do not be easily hoodwinked.
5) how much are his immediate subordinates earning?
6) are the hr personnel that process his monthly salary patriotic enough to enter such a hefty salary for someone in a sea of poverty like zim quietly?
7) why should a man be rewarded upwards yet his performance is nosediving?
Traitors committing treason that should be hanged!!!!
Why has he been kept so long? It is because he is very competent at doing what he is told.
Mark, competence has never been important. If it had been, Zim wouldn’t be in this mess.
Not so long ago Mugabe made it clear the key issue is loyalty to the party…in other words to him.
Marxists always put loyalty to the Party before anything else.
how much does NSSA boss get? All these chefs (NSSA, NEC, PSMAS, NECWEI, ZIMRA, City Rates, etc) get money via statutory instruments (SI) that force people to pay, and do not have to work for the money – it just comes in courtesy of the law of the land. Their job is to spend it, and their own salary is top of the list of vital expenditures. If there is not enough buck, just change the % from 4 to 5 or from 6 to 7 and lo and behold – another millions for spending. Compare this to the hard work of the traffic cop who has to fleece you at the roadblock!
Long live the special SI. Long live Cde Robert Mugabe; may he live forever and stay in power for ever.
signed – association of combined highly paid chefs of Zimbabwe ACHPCZ
This type of theft has been going on since 1980. That country is controlled by a criminal cabal. it is as simple as that with Mugabe having been the boss of that cabal since 1980. Thieving barstards.
And a portion of these salaries go back to the zanu party…. more fool the taxpayer, get organized and boycott….
It shouldn’t be possible for the appointed clerk of parliament to be the final arbiter of what motions elected MPs want discussed except in a corrupt government.
This is news to me, that the clerk of parliament pushes his bosses around, who suitably acquiesce to his superiority! Says more about the MPs than Mr Zvoma. While they cannot be fired for kicking a fuss over this, their night-time deals could be at risk. It’s our national culture, this corruption, forced on us by a system that rewards loyalty over competence. We have been turned into a nation of snivelling ass holes. The buckling of our legislators says it all.
LONG LIVE RGM! CE0,ZIMBABWE!
its funny how our parliamentarians reason.
investigating parastatal bosses is tantamount to investigating the perm secs, the ministers and ultimately the president. why would it end with the parastatal bosess when its clear the perm secs and the minsterss approved most of these packages and they themselves were getting side kicks. its damn stupid. most of the minsters are parliamentarians. its really a pity.