Govt owes MPs $4million

via Govt owes MPs $4million | The Zimbabwean 16 July 2014 by Nelson Sibanda

Former Members of Parliament, who are owed $4 million, are piling pressure on Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa to settle the debt.

MPs from across the political divide recently formed a committee chaired by Moses Jiri to pressure government to meet its obligation to pay them. They have held several meetings with the finance ministry’s principal directors in vain.

Jiri said the situation was desperate for some of the former lawmakers, who could hardly afford school fees for their children.

Piniel Denga, former MDC-T MP for Mbare, said it was time they expressed themselves at Chinamasa’s office, but some members think approaching the minister could translate into confrontation, a situation they would rather avoid.

Denga said some of the ex-MPs had borrowed money from banks on the strength of government letters of confirmation that it owed them unpaid sitting and fuel allowances.

The loans are accruing interest and MPS risk losing their properties.

Wadd Nezi, former MP for Mrewa West and chairperson of the Ex-Legislators Forum, called on his colleagues to be patient and give dialogue a chance. “Confrontation is not the way to go since government is clearly broke,” he said.

MPs are paid $75 per sitting plus fuel and hotel expenses. Already members of the current Parliament are owed a total $1.7 million in allowances for the past 15 weeks.