Parliament doubles its own budget, each deputy of the VIII Legislature counts for 4 million meticais – A Verdade

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Parliament doubles its own budget, each deputy of the VIII Legislature counts for 4 million meticais – A Verdade

1:51 CAT | 08 Apr 2020

The Assembly of the Republic more than doubled the budget for its operations in 2020, pushing the figure above 2.8 billion meticais. Almost half of the expenses approved on Monday (April 6) are for the “reintegration” of all the supposed “representatives of the people” from the VIII (previous) Legislature. @Verdade learned that each deputy and member of Frelimo, Renamo and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) will pocket around 4 million meticais.

Under discussion it the 2,837,302,422.55 meticais that the ‘House of the People’ has already begun spending since it started the IX Legislature on January 13th, and more than double the 2019 budget of 1.3 billion meticais.

@Verdade learned that the smallest slice of this cake, around 187 million, is for the payment of salaries for the employees of the General Secretariat of the Assembly of the Republic who, despite working much more than eight hours a day, and often weekends too, are equated to public officials who punch the clock at 7:30 a.m. and disappear at 3:30 p.m..

Another small slice is for parliamentary goods and services – about 120 million meticais.

375M for salaries, 138M in constituency subsidies, 105M in attendance allowances, 110M in allowances for home rentals and transportation, 85M for relocation

For the remuneration of the distinguished deputies of the new Legislature, the share amounts to one billion meticais. There are 375 million for salaries of the 250 ‘Representatives of the People’, who will still pocket 138 million in constituency subsidies, plus 105 million in attendance allowances and 110 million in allowances for home rentals and transportation, as well as 85 million meticais reserved for the relocation of the newcomers elected on October 15, 2019.

“Current Transfers”: 1.4B for medical and medication assistance, quotas in international organisations, funeral and death allowances and pensions for retired deputies

But the largest share of this year’s budget, approved with votes in favour from Frelimo and abstentions from Renamo and the MDM, will be spent on “current transfers”. There are 1.4 billion meticais for medical and medication assistance, quotas in international organisations of which the Mozambican parliament is a member, funeral and death allowances and pensions for retired deputies.

However, @Verdade has learned that a large part of the “current transfers” is intended for the ‘reintegration’ of the 250 deputies who represented the Frelimo, Renamo and MDM parties during the last, VIII Legislature. That is more than 1 billion meticais, which, evenly distributed, gives a hefty 4,108,152.56 meticais each, including for deputies of the past legislature who remain in the Assembly of the Republic [this year]. This amount could purchase at least 30 ventilators, to save the lives of eventual Covid-19 patients in Mozambique.

By Adérito Caldeira

Source: A Verdade